Treachery and Misrepresentation
by Aria6
Summary: I was never what Aizen thought I was. Everything I did, was working towards a plan. Except for the hatred I had for the orange haired kid. It wasn't fair and it wasn't right, but I couldn't resist the urge to destroy him. Yet, my attempts only seemed to make him stronger. Maybe it was fate. Grimm/Ichi, lemons in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Grimmjow opened the garganta to Karakura town and looked over the slumbering city. It wasn't much of a place. He'd seen much bigger, in his time. Although no one knew that but himself and he planned to keep it that way.

Ostensibly, he was a loose cannon going after the shinigami with the alarming powers. In actuality, he had a much colder, more rational agenda. One that made his soul hurt a little. But for him to follow through with the rest of his plan, it had to be done.

He was in Karakura town to dispose of his fraccion. They were loyal to him, but they were also loyal to Aizen and they were much too close to him. They would be able to see any odd behavior, any hints that he wasn't the adjuchas he once had been. They had to go. And if these shinigami were as good as he thought, they would do the job for him. And if they failed a bit, well, he could always finish off the wounded and blame it on them.

_I'm turning into a total bastard._ He thought, more in amusement than anything. As soon as he'd chosen this path he'd known the cost would be bits of his soul. It made him wonder how the second Division managed it. _But then, they never had my loyalty. They just thought they did._ Leaving his fraccion to their fate – a taichou was there, hah, they didn't stand a fucking chance – he went to find his own opponent.

It wasn't hard to locate the kid. What Grimmjow hadn't expected, though, was the wave of his own hatred. It was just the hair color. He knew that, in his head, but it didn't stop him from mouthing a despised name. Although… no, it wasn't just the hair color. There was a vague resemblance in his face, too. And that _really_ pissed him off.

He got rid of the girl quickly. The wound was painful, but shinigami were tough and she would survive. Then he started beating the shit out of the kid. It was necessary for his cover but it was also fucking _fun._ Part of him was disgusted at himself for enjoying it so much. But the rest of him was superimposing a slightly different face on the shinigami, the face of someone he'd always desperately wanted to kill.

But he couldn't go that far. He was struggling to pull back, to stop before he really killed the kid when Tosen showed up. He was careful to give Tosen no hint of his real feelings, only aggressiveness and anger. He was both pleased and saddened when Tosen told him that he'd lost five arrancar in battle. That had been the plan, but it still hurt a little, knowing he'd sent them to their deaths.

Then the kid was yelling at him to come back, and that was just amusing. So Grimmjow gave him the bitter truth about the difference in their combat abilities. Maybe that would help him get stronger, if he could. Of course, maybe he couldn't. There were limits. He knew that from painful experience.

But now it was time to find out how Aizen would punish him. Ah, the pleasures of setting up a cover story never ended.

* * *

Grimmjow swore to himself as he stalked out of the meeting with Aizen and Tosen.

Saying he was in pain would be a gross understatement. He'd anticipated paying a price for his insubordination, but this had been a little damned steep. Then he paused and glanced around. He was alone, so he permitted himself a feral grin. Steep or not, his reputation as a loose cannon had been made. Now it was time to go grab a food run.

The shinigami in Los Noches required food and water. The arrancar were getting fond of water too, although they didn't require it. But they developed an interesting funk after a while, if they didn't shower. Grimmjow found it actually rather alluring – especially Yammy's scent, which was just disturbing – but the shinigami found it off putting. So they all needed to shower, especially Yammy. As a result, they were constantly shipping in water and food from Soul Society.

The water was actually pretty easy. A permanent mini-garganta had been set up in a very out of the way location by a small lake. Pumping equipment and pipes were constantly bringing in the water, which was being stored in a water tower. Grimmjow knew about it because he kept his ears open and had heard some of the Numeros complaining about the work involved in maintaining the pipe. So water was covered.

Food was actually a bit harder. They had a very surreptitious relationship with the black market in the Rukongai, and Grimmjow had no idea how Aizen was paying them. All he knew was that the drop off locations shifted regularly, and only Numeros and Espada with enough control to sneak in and out were allowed to do food runs. They had to be done quickly, if they stayed too long someone would sense them, but usually everything was all boxed up and ready to go when they arrived. However, sometimes mistakes did happen.

"You want a food run?" The little Numero running the duty board was shocked enough to talk back. He just glowered at her. "Uh, right away Grimmjow-sama!"

"Don't call me that. I won't be an Espada much longer." He said sourly, wondering if that would give him more freedom or less. He at least might not be as closely watched. "And I just need to get out of this shithole." The Numero nodded with just the right amount of sympathy before handing him over the sheet. Grimmjow scanned it before letting out a grunt. It wasn't perfect but it would do.

He left the building and carefully made his garganta to Soul Society. But he didn't aim it for the food distro point. No, he'd do that later. For now, he needed to make contact with someone who would know him… once he had a chance to explain.

This was going to be fun.

* * *

"Che." Grimmjow muttered, trying to figure out how to do this. "I should have been in the Second, this would be a fucking lot easier." He muttered to himself. The Second Division handled everything espionage related, and until now he'd never wanted that kind of career for himself. In fact, he still didn't want it, but you played the cards you were dealt.

Right now the cards he was dealing with were how to get his old taichou alone without anyone else noticing. He was concealing his reiatsu like a mofo, but that wasn't going to last forever.

_Master?_ He glanced at his zanpakuto. He knew most arrancar didn't have blades that spoke to them, but he was exceptional in many ways. _Instead of concealing your reiatsu, perhaps you should try altering it?_ The sword suggested diffidently and Grimmjow frowned. It wasn't a bad idea, and it might even work.

Carefully handling his aura, he tried to remember what it had felt like, so long ago. It was hard, very hard, but he managed to warp it into a semblance of shinigami power. It felt unnatural but strangely right, and Grimmjow grunted to himself as he completed the shift. That would definitely help him to stay under the radar here. But how to get the bastard alone?

_Throw a rock at his window._ Pantera suggested, which was both juvenile and amusing. Without any better ideas, Grimmjow found a handful of pebbles and began chucking them at the window. Tap-tap-tap-tap… he wondered how long the occupant of the room could stand it before losing his mind. It would have driven him nuts quickly, but his old taichou was a more level-headed sort. He only hoped it was him that opened the window, not a fukutaichou or other underling.

Luck was with him. The window finally opened and an anthromorphic wolf head was stuck out, golden eyes glaring in annoyance. Grimmjow grinned to himself. It wasn't easy to rile up Sajin, but he'd always been able to manage it. It was good to see the knack hadn't left him.

"Hey boss." He called softly and the taichou blinked, trying to pinpoint him. "It's Teru." The taichou stiffened then and Grimmjow could read his anger, almost rage easily.

"You lie. He's dead." Sajin kept his voice down, though, and Grimmjow grinned. The taichou couldn't see him clearly through the screen of trees.

"Yeah, he is. I need to talk to you, can you come down here?" He suggested softly. The taichou hesitated and he continued. "I have an offer, but if anyone else sees me I'll have to run." They would attack him instantly, and for damned good reason. He was obviously an arrancar and his description had probably been circulated by now. Sajin vanished from the window and Grimmjow knew he would come. The taichou would be unable to resist. They had been very close, once upon a time.

"Teru?" Komamura sounded very wary as he entered the trees, then stopped dead as he clearly saw the Espada. "You!" He reached for his sword but Grimmjow just lifted his empty hands.

"Yeah, me. The hollow that ate Teru… and Teru fought to become the dominant personality, and won." Grimmjow said softly and saw Sajin's eyes widen. "He's been in charge of this body since the day he died. But I didn't remember my past until Aizen cracked my mask. Then, everything came back to me. So… I'm here to make you an offer. I want to be your spy in Aizen's ranks." He stated it simply, calmly, even knowing it would probably eventually lead to his death. Aizen was smart, smart as hell, and he knew what the man would do to any traitors in his ranks. Sajin hesitated and Grimmjow could guess why.

"If this is true, why did you attack Ichigo?" He asked and Grimmjow laughed softly.

"To get rid of my fraccion." He said simply and Sajin frowned at him. "I know, pretty heartless. But they had to go, they knew me too well and would have watched my every move. They wouldn't have put their loyalty to me before their loyalty to Aizen. And I needed to fight Ichigo to establish my reputation as a raving lunatic. The price was a bit high, but it worked." He jerked a thumb at his missing arm. Then he hesitated, but as ashamed of it as he was, the next piece of information would help cement him with Sajin. "As for why I beat the kid up so badly…" Grimmjow gripped the hilt of his sword, eyes going dark with remembrance. "He looks like Nozomi." There was a short pause before Sajin spoke.

"I noticed that the first time I saw him. But that was most unfair, Teru. He's nothing like Nozomi." Grimmjow's lips tightened and he nodded his head shortly. He really wasn't proud of himself.

"What happened to that bastard? Tell me he's dead." Grimmjow said with a dark eagerness and Sajin shook his head.

"No, he's alive, but he failed one too many assessments. His family could not protect him in the end, and he's in the Maggot's Nest." The taichou said, and that put a small smile on his face. It wasn't quite as good as the man being dead, but it would certainly do. "But how do I know this is the truth? You spin a good story, but everything you have told me is common knowledge. The feud between the two of you was the talk of the academy. Tell me something only Teru would know."

"Uh…" Grimmjow internally cursed himself. He hadn't anticipated this, and he should have. Sajin was right, everyone had known about the brutal battles and incredibly bitter hatred between him and Nozomi. Aizen certainly would have known. Thinking hard, something occurred to him. "You know how I always sang to myself when I did the paperwork?" As a shinigami, he'd had an acceptable but not stellar singing voice, despite his passion for it. As an arrancar, strangely, his voice was much better. Sajin nodded. "You taught me a song once, one of the songs of your people… I still remember… Little flower on the hill, sitting in the shadows still…" He sang the children's rhyme, and was amazed by how smooth it sounded. This hollow body had one very nice positive side, it seemed. Then he looked up as Sajin's hand touched his shoulder.

"Teru, it is you." The taichou suddenly hugged him and Grimmjow blinked before hugging him back. That was unexpected, but they had been close before he died. "I will have to speak to Yamamoto and probably Soifon as well."

"I know. And I really need to get going before someone suspects something." He said, although they would probably mostly suspect him of running off to fight someone. "I'll come back and meet you the same way, if that's okay?" He said and Sajin considered it a moment before nodding.

"My fukutaichou might be there, but he can keep a secret. I look forward to seeing you again, Teru." He said, stepping back, and Grimmjow sonido'd off.

He needed to get the food shipment and get back before someone noticed he'd been gone for a bit too long.

* * *

Grimmjow sighed to himself, looking at the ceiling.

In some ways, being Luppi's fraccion was a trial. In other ways, it was extremely useful. The little bastard took him everywhere, even to Espada meetings, just to show off that he was the one holding Grimmjow's leash. That was almost insufferable and Grimmjow longed to kill him. But he was able to listen in on all the strategy meetings, find out everything he needed, and no one thought anything of it.

On the downside, he was tied to Luppi. He was supposed to be at the bastard's beck and call, and it was getting harder and harder to get away. He dared punishment every time he wasn't there when Luppi needed him, but he just had to chance it. The information he was feeding to Soul Society was invaluable to them.

He felt like a traitor, sometimes, but not as much as he'd expected. He couldn't stand Aizen or Tosen. He disliked or despised Yammy, Nnoitra, Ulquiorra, Zomari… the only people he didn't dislike were Starrk, Gin and Harribel. And he didn't particularly like Starrk, the lazy bastard just hadn't done anything to make him feel one way or the other. Ditto on Gin. The only one he felt bad for was Harribel, she was a decent sort. But you couldn't have everything.

And his memories of his time as a shinigami were only getting stronger. Sajin was the person closest to him, but he'd had plenty of other friends in his division and some of the others. Hitsugaya… he wondered what had happened to the kid. He really had been almost a child, only a member of the Division for a few years, when Teru had died. They'd been friends though, a fukutaichou and a very promising youngster. Had that promise been realized? He wondered if he would ever know.

If he did find out, though, it might be at the end of a blade. Grimmjow grimaced and glanced down at his hollow hole. Sajin called him Teru, but his name was really Grimmjow. The name this body had come with, he'd taken it and made it his own. It was his, and Hueco Mundo was where he belonged, just another corrupted soul. Could Soul Society ever accept him, or would they simply give him a merciful death?

"Konso." He whispered the name of the ritual and sighed. Soul burial. He should look forward to it, desire to take his place in the cycle of rebirth. But he didn't. His life as an arrancar was sweet and he was very reluctant to give it up.

"Grimmjow!" The blue haired arrancar flinched as the door to his quarters was rudely opened without any kind of knock. But then, Luppi did not waste courtesy on his fraccion. "Come. We are going to the living world."

"Yes, Luppi-sama." He made the honorific a curse and Luppi smirked at him. He didn't care about the tone and in fact he seemed to enjoy it.

Grimmjow was going to enjoy blasting his head off someday.

* * *

Someday came surprisingly quickly.

After Orihime healed his arm, Grimmjow knew what Aizen expected of him. Luppi must have been a bit too insubordinate, for the ex-taichou to set him up that way. And Grimmjow wasn't going to go out of character to save the little bastard. Oh no. He enjoyed taking his head off just as much as he'd anticipated.

With that done, he was the Sexta Espada once again. He dragged his newly restored hand against the wall, smiling in pleasure at the feeling and made a mental note to do something nice for the woman. Maybe get her some chocolates. Not that he had any idea where he would get chocolates from. Flowers? Maybe the next time he made a report to Sajin.

Not that he wanted to court her or anything. She was absolutely not his type. He liked his women short and athletic, preferably brunettes although that was not a hard and fast rule. But her curves were too lush, not what he was into at all. And Grimmjow liked men too. As Teru, he'd only been into the ladies, but as an arrancar that had definitely changed. It was probably all the female souls floating around his body and making their presence felt. Grimmjow tilted his head to one side, trying to imagine what his dream man would be. Strangely, the only person who popped immediately to mind was Ichigo Kurosaki. Grimacing, Grimmjow fought back the wave of hatred from his primary personality. If only he could convince the shinigami to dye his hair…

Rolling his eyes at his own idiocy, Grimmjow turned a corner and almost ran into Gin. He gaped for a moment before shutting his mouth with a snap. The ex-taichou must have been hiding his reiatsu like crazy to surprise him like that.

"You're quite a deceptive one, aint'cha?" Gin murmured with a smile and Grimmjow gave him a cocky grin, trying to hide the fact that he was getting a sweaty palm reaction. This was bad. Gin was just as smart as Aizen and a whole lot less arrogant.

"Me? You sure you got the right arrancar?" He asked insolently and Gin's smile widened as his eyes opened a hair. "Or you just finally lost your mind?" He said and Gin chuckled softly.

"Don't bother to lie. I've been keeping an eye on you. I know what you've been up to. I just wonder, how did you convince Soul Society you were sincere? That must have been a problem for a hollow like you." Gin's hand came out to touch the edges of his hollow hole and Grimmjow stood absolutely still, wondering why he wasn't dead yet. The unwanted and intimate nature of the touch hardly registered in his mind.

"My name is Teru Narobu." He said quietly and had the pleasure of seeing Gin's eyes open completely. "Fukutaichou of the Seventh Division, when I was alive. And when Aizen broke my mask, I remembered everything, including enough details to convince Komamura taichou of my sincerity."

"I see." Gin drew his hand away. "Just an amateur, then. I really ought to kill you." He said idly and Grimmjow stiffened. "Aizen will find you out, someday. An' then you'll be dead, eventually. I'm sure he'll take his time after bein' fooled by his own Espada." The thought made his skin crawl but Grimmjow took a deep breath, fortifying himself. He'd known the risks when he'd made this decision.

"Maybe, maybe not. Everyone thinks I'm a dumbass for a reason." He said softly and Gin just smiled. "How'd you find out?" He really wanted to know. Gin chuckled softly.

"You and your food runs… I followed you, just to make sure you weren't doin' something stupid like pickin' a fight with a fukutaichou. I got more than I bargained for. You might want to watch a bit more carefully for followers." Gin stepped past him and very briefly rested a hand on his shoulder. Grimmjow was very surprised the next comment, breathed softly into his ear. "Good luck." Then the shinigami was gone and Grimmjow stared after him, baffled. Then after a moment he grinned.

It seemed he wasn't the only one less than loyal to Aizen.

* * *

Grimmjow studied his work for a moment, trying to decide if it was acceptable.

He was making a flower arrangement for the woman. He was no great shakes at ikebana and any real florist shop would have laughed him out the door, but it was still pretty enough. Nothing but wildflowers in a glass vase that had begun life as a rather large beaker. He'd stolen it from Szayel's lab and the scientist would probably be pretty annoyed when he found it was missing. But it worked perfectly to hold this little bouquet.

The other thing he'd gotten hold of was some fresh raspberries. He'd picked those himself, using his jacket to carry them. His jacket was a mess, but Grimmjow didn't much care. It would be a Numeros job to clean that up, and he'd done his bit by putting on the stain remover. Satisfied with his little gift, he picked up the vase and the bowl of raspberries before heading towards Ulquiorra's wing. When he reached the room he kicked on the door.

"Oi, woman! Open up, I've got something for you." If necessary he could open it himself, but he'd have to put down one of his items. There was a sound of footsteps from inside and Orihime opened the door, looking at him with those doe like grey eyes. "Hey there." Grimmjow stepped inside as Orihime looked at him in confusion. He offered her the vase, which she looked at wide-eyed. "Just a little thank you for fixing up my arm. You like flowers, right?" He'd never met a woman who didn't. Orihime hesitated a moment before taking the vase. She looked very confused, which only made sense really. An Espada had just given her flowers. What a fucked up thing. "And I got you some berries, picked 'em myself on a food run." He looked around for a good place to put the bowl, and finally set it on a little end table. Orihime looked at it a moment then shook her head.

"I'm not hungry. But thank you, Grimmjow-sama. The flowers are pretty." She tried to smile at him but he was far from stupid and recognized the expression for the farce it was.

"Tch. Don't starve yourself, woman. This place ain't that bad." Then he glanced around her room for a moment. It was a lot like his room, except it had more furniture. That didn't bother him a bit, he'd lived in the sands with exactly no furniture for a long time, but even compared to his crappy apartment in the Rukongai, well… it was lacking a bit. "Okay, it's pretty bad. But fresh berries'll make you feel better." He offered then sighed to himself as she just shook her head. "I hope you'll change your mind. They're too good to – eh?" The door opened and he turned as Ulquiorra entered the room.

"Grimmjow." To say the Quatro was unwelcoming would have been an understatement. He was calm as always, but there was just a bit of ice in his tone and those green eyes were not happy at all. "What are you doing here?" He asked calmly and Grimmjow sneered, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Saying thank you to the woman with some flowers. What, you jealous?" He jibed and had the satisfaction of seeing Ulquiorra look vaguely annoyed. "You are, aren't you?"

"Don't be ridiculous. There is nothing for me to be jealous of." Ulquiorra said and Grimmjow just grinned at him, making the pale bastard twitch. "What is so amusing?" He finally asked and Grimmjow laughed sharply for a moment.

"You are. There's everything to be jealous of. I brought her flowers and you got all pissy, what d'you think that means?" He taunted his fellow Espada as Orihime cautiously moved to the table, setting down her new flowers. "Don't you know how to court a woman, Quatro?" Orihime looked up, startled, as Ulquiorra looked just the slightest bit annoyed.

"Ridiculous. Mating is a primitive behavior. I engage in it sometimes, as the need presents itself. There is no point in such things as courtship." He said and that pissed Grimmjow off.

"Bullshit!" He growled, knowing that he was going dangerously out of character but unable to stop himself. "Sex is letting someone in, letting them close enough to hurt you. Sex is about making connections and giving trust. Some people might think it's nothing but fucking, but I'm not one of those people. If you are, I think that's pathetic." He said harshly but Ulquiorra didn't look offended. More thoughtful than anything.

"An interesting attitude that I would not have expected from you, Sexta." He said calmly and Grimmjow just scowled.

"You don't know shit about me. There's a reason why I don't sleep around. Not that you would know a damned thing about my love life." He said before turning to Orihime. "See you later, woman. Enjoy the flowers." He left the room, aware of two sets of eyes on his back. After a moment's thought he decided he didn't give a damn.

Ulquiorra could just deal with it.


	2. Treachery Complete

Author's Note: Some of the stuff about Aizen's battles might be out of order. I haven't actually seen it except for stuff on youtube. Fun times. ^_^

Grimmjow lay bleeding in the sands and wondered why he was such a dumbass.

_Guess that's why the acting was so easy. Not exactly a stretch. I went too far again… shit, I went completely bananas. Sajin would be standing over me right now and giving me that look. Hard to read expressions on a wolf face but damn, he could put it all into his eyes. More in sorrow than anger, that would be the one. Teru, why'd you have to go apeshit? They're not the same fucking person, you know that. What's wrong with you?_ The unfeeling sun beat down on him, heating him almost unbearably. _And why am I talking about myself in the third person?_

Maybe it was just that he didn't have anything better to do. Bleeding and dying was actually pretty fucking boring. Grimmjow vaguely wondered what would happen to him if he died, uneaten and without konso. Would he go to Hell? Maybe. He knew there was a theory that corrupted soul collections like his would go to Hell, but only to be rendered into their constituent parts and sent on to whatever afterlife they deserved. Not fun but if that was the case, he was okay with it. His primary personality was going to go to the cycle of rebirth, he was sure of it. The rest, well, they would get whatever they deserved.

Comforted by the thought he let his eyes sag shut. He wished death would hurry up and arrive for him, the waiting was tedious. Then he opened his eyes again as someone stood over him, blocking out the light.

"Isane, hurry. This arrancar needs help if he is to survive." Grimmjow blinked as his eyes managed to focus.

"Unohana." He whispered, his voice a mangled mess. The taichou of the Fourth smiled down at him, her expression gentle and compassionate. Isane, however, was quietly freaking out.

"Taichou, that's an Espada!" She said and Unohana nodded, resting her hands on the worst of Grimmjow's wounds, the one on his chest. Although what Nnoitra had done to his throat was no picnic either.

"I am aware of that, Isane. Please take care of his throat. We need to make him mobile." She said calmly and her subordinate shifted uneasily before her taichou gave her a look. That look got the girl moving and Grimmjow couldn't help but smile. Everyone was afraid of Unohana, despite her gentle demeanor. "Do not be afraid of him, Isane. He is actually an agent of the Seireitei." She said calmly and Grimmjow nodded to himself. Aizen was in his end game, and he'd given them all the information he could. There was no need to conceal things any longer.

"Wh-what?!" Isane sounded very shocked, though. "Unohana taichou? How could an arrancar be a – a spy for us? And an Espada?" She questioned as she began to heal his throat.

"His name was Teru Narobu…" Grimmjow tuned her out then. He didn't need a recap of the past. Instead he just waited patiently for his wounds to heal. It took a while, but his body was helping, natural healing factors kicking in and helping the shinigami along.

"Thanks." He finally croaked out, managing to sit up. Unohana just nodded and Isane stared at him, her eyes wide. "You guys need a garganta out of here?" He asked and the taichou nodded.

"We have our own, but it is some distance away. If you could." She said politely and he nodded, standing up. He was badly drained but he could do that for him.

"You're really a shinigami?" Isane asked, awed, as he began to tear open the garganta. Grimmjow huffed a laugh.

"Do I look like a shinigami, woman?" He said roughly and sighed as she flinched. "I was one when I was alive, but that man is dead. His memories and most of his personality live on in me, but no, I'm not a shinigami." That time of his life was over and done with. Even if they succeeded in defeating Aizen, he didn't think he would be welcome in the Seireitei. Really, what would become of him? Grimmjow had no idea. Of course, even worrying about it depended on defeating Aizen. He followed the shinigami through the garganta and got a very good view of the battlefield as they stepped through.

It was absolute shit. It looked like the battle against the arrancar had gone well for the shinigami but the battle against Aizen, well, that was a cock up. Not that it was the least bit surprising, with Aizen's little purple cube thingy. Hoky-what? Grimmjow couldn't be bothered to remember the proper name. He grimaced, looking around for the kid with the mask. Kurosaki would be trying to pull Soul Societies chestnuts out of the fire, as always. And with Yamamoto up there those were some big, hoary chestnuts.

Amusingly, he didn't find Kurosaki right off, but he did find the woman. Orihime was standing on a piece of rubble, wearing a really tattered version of her arrancar outfit and healing the Tres Bestias. Grimmjow wasn't sure why, but they hadn't done her any harm, unlike Menolly. Maybe it was some kind of weird compulsion.

"Hey, woman. When you're done with them can you heal me up?" He asked, making her start and glance over, her eyes wide. Right now he was surviving easily, but his powers were too badly drained to let him be any kind of threat to Aizen. Grimmjow at least wanted to die valiantly, and right now any attempt would just be pathetic.

"No." She said quietly but fiercely and Grimmjow blinked at her. No? "I'm not healing you so you can fight Kurosaki-kun again." She said and he laughed, a short, bitter sound.

"I don't want to fight him, woman. I want to join the fight against Aizen." He glanced over at what was happening. The Visored were toast and Kurosaki was trying, but failing miserably. Great. She just looked confused. "I'm a spy." He said simply and she goggled at him. "And the reason I fought your boyfriend is because I'm an asshole. Sorry."

"He's not my…" She stammered, blushing madly. Then Unohana and Isane arrived. They had been tending to a fallen shinigami or two. "Unohana taichou! Should I heal him?" She asked and Unohana nodded as she and Isane began helping Harribel's fallen fraccion.

"If you could, that might be good." She glanced up at the battle. The captains were going after Aizen now. "I'm not entirely sure what he can add, but he certainly can't hurt." She said a bit grimly and Grimmjow nodded. He wasn't sure what a single Espada could add either. But any port in a storm.

He stood and watched as Orihime's healing did its work. His body healed more deeply than Unohana could manage, and the power he'd burnt on Kurosaki was restored. Grimmjow glanced up at Aizen, wondering what he thought he could do that would be greater than three taichou. The white haired kid, Soifon and Shunsui were not having the greatest of days.

"Thanks, Orihime." He said, using her name for once. "I'll see what I can do." The first thing he was going to do was find Kurosaki and give him a bit of hell. The kid had let Aizen psych him out. He could move as fast as any taichou and they were at least managing to fight, why the hell wasn't he up there?

When he reached Ichigo he was yelling something at the taichou. Grimmjow glanced up and his eyes widened. They had managed to stab Aizen?

_Master, something is wrong!_ Pantera said sharply and a female voice, very familiar but unclear, chimed up in agreement. Grimmjow drew in a sharp breath as the illusion broke and he saw that the little taichou – was that Hitsugaya? – had stabbed a woman shinigami. Apparently, the illusion had broken for all of them too because Hitsugaya completely freaked. All three of the taichou went after the real Aizen, who was standing on the ground not far away.

Aizen took them all. Grimmjow swallowed, hard, as he saw it happen. It made him wonder why he'd bothered with the woman shinigami. Had he done that just to be a bastard? Probably. Kurosaki still hadn't noticed him, watching the battle in horror.

"Hey shinigami!" Ichigo's head jerked up and he stared in shocked surprise as Grimmjow's hand fell on his shoulder. "You just going to watch like a pussy?" He growled, meeting those brown eyes fiercely.

"Grimmjow! How the hell?" Ichigo brought his sword up and looked like he was expecting an attack. Perfectly reasonable, really. Grimmjow just grinned at him, feeling the hate flickering in the back of his mind. But he had it under control and it was fucking irrational anyway. He was not going to let illogical bullshit rule his life, not anymore anyway. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm honestly not sure." He said, glancing at Aizen. Motherfucker. "But what the hell are you doing, Kurosaki? The guy who beat me is just going to stand here? Why weren't you up there?" He demanded and saw Ichigo swallow.

"I tried!" He sounded a bit wobbly and Grimmjow blinked. That was… scary, actually. "I couldn't even hit him. Can't you feel his power?" Grimmjow tried and found that he could. It was very, very strong and very, very scary. "What can I do against THAT?"

"Die like a man." He said instantly and Kurosaki just stared at him like he must have misheard. "That's what I'm gonna do." Grimmjow said with a wild laugh as he turned his attention to his zanpakuto. Kurosaki could be a pussy if he wanted. There was one arrow left in the Espada's quiver, and he planned to use it.

He hadn't done this against Kurosaki because he hadn't wanted Aizen to know about it. That, and Grimmjow wasn't even sure it would work. But the fact was, he was damned weird for an arrancar. He had his hollow zanpakuto, which was basically half his power sealed into sword form. It had a personality and he could talk to it, but it was kind of like a split personality rather than a real zanpakuto. The name he'd given it was Pantera.

But he had a second zanpakuto. The sword spirit from his days as a shinigami, it should have left him as soon as the hollow ate him. But instead, it had stayed. Maybe because his mind had triumphed and taken the body, or maybe just some weird resonance, but his zanpakuto was still along for the ride. He couldn't hear her voice properly, not unless he warped his power to something closer to shinigami. That was what he was doing now. It hurt, but it still had that strange sense of rightness he'd felt before. And when he made contact with his old zanpakuto, well, that was like finding an old friend.

_Master._ She purred in his mind. Her voice reminded him a crackling flame, hot and full of sparks. _Normally I would make you earn this._

_He already has, through me._ Pantera spoke up and his other zanpakuto hissed.

_At least tell me you remember my name._ She said and Grimmjow laughed.

"Of course I know your name, Phoenixi." He said easily and blinked as a second blade began to take form in his offhand. "Huh!" He hadn't expected that, although it made a great deal of sense. Now that he'd made connection to his shinigami side and named his zanpakuto, he had a dual zanpakuto. Pantera and Phoenixi were both aspects of his power. The second blade was much shorter than his main one and made in a western style, with a guard for his hand and prongs to catch an enemy's blade. A sword breaker, it would be his offhand weapon, and he already knew how to fight that way. He'd been trained in the style, although as a shinigami his offhand weapon had just been a common blade. He'd never had a second zanpakuto then. Examining the blade, he saw the hilt was bound in red silk with tiny fire opal beads worked into the bindings. "Can we do this?" He asked the two zanpakuto who sent him back an ambivalent feeling.

_Because we have agreed to cooperate you at least have a chance._ 'Nixie said, then sniffed. _Honesty, I think you're going to blow yourself up._

_I'm afraid I agree. But let's try anyway. As an Espada, Aizen would end you instantly._ Pantera contributed and Grimmjow grinned at them both.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, ya fuckin' losers. Bankai!" He barked the word as Kurosaki started questioning him. Fortunately… he really didn't want to explain this… he was far too involved in his swords to listen.

As a shinigami, he'd never earned a bankai. However, he'd earned the arrancar equivalent, his resurrection. Of course, this was really bending the rules and Phoenixi wasn't too happy. But his mastery of his power meant that she could voluntarily allow him bankai, even if he hadn't actually completed the necessary steps.

Gold and red power exploded from him, forming into a gigantic bird of flames. It resembled the Sokyoku, not a wonderful thing, but true to 'Nixie's nature. That wasn't what he needed, though. He needed the very ultimate form of her power, and needed to combine it with Pantera. His resurreccion swirled around him and Grimmjow was vaguely aware of Ichigo being knocked back as he resumed the form he'd last fought the kid in. A ball of blue formed at the end of his katana as the bird condensed into a ball of red and gold light, settling on the end of his sword breaker. He crossed the smaller blade over Pantera's hilt and hissed as the red light flowed up the blade.

He had to force a combining of the two. Pure shinigami or pure hollow would not be enough. He needed both, needed every ounce of power he'd ever had and ever would have. In a way, it was similar to what Kurosaki had done, but he was coming at it from the other direction. And this was the dangerous point. The powers did not want to be combined and fought him like living things. He forced them into submission with pure force of will, feeling beads of sweat trickling down his face. Aizen was looking down at him with a frown on his face but Grimmjow ignored him. No doubt his lord and master thought he was about to attack Kurosaki. He was going to get a surprise.

The powers finally combined and Grimmjow held them, blue and red flickering together in a dangerous dance. He launched himself into the air, flying straight at Aizen, who just watched him with a small smile on his lips. A snarl crossed his features. Wasn't the bastard even going to take him seriously?

"GRIMMJOW! SAJIN!" That scream behind him made Grimmjow's eyes go wide. Sajin? Both his zanpakuto screamed a warning and he wrenched the weapons apart just before the power erupted.

A ray of red and gold fire went off over the enemies' right shoulder, while a gran ray cero of blue went over the left. The illusion came apart and Grimmjow looked into golden eyes just as a long, powerful sword crunched through the bone armor on his chest. The Espada coughed up blood, glancing around and trying to locate Aizen. The bastard was watching them both with interest.

_I guess he did take me seriously._ He thought with a strange sense of calm. Aizen had thought he was enough of a threat to avoid the strike, and aim it at Sajin, who probably wouldn't have survived. Or maybe he was just a sadistic bastard. The sword came free and he would have fallen, but Komamura caught him before he could drop.

"Teru, I'm sorry. I'm sorry." His former taichou repeated, his tone full of grief and guilt, and Grimmjow managed a blood stained smile.

"It's okay. Shit happens." He whispered, letting the numbness spread through his body. He was tired, so very tired. He closed his eyes, letting the darkness drag him under. But before he passed out, he heard Ichigo screaming something.

It would be up to him now.

* * *

Grimmjow was surprised to awaken again.

At first he was disoriented and thought he was in Szayel's lab. This place had the same antiseptic smell, common to medical wards the world over. Szayel handled it when the Espada were badly injured, and Grimmjow had ended up in his care more than once, something he always hated. But there was sunlight hitting his face. Szayel's lab had owned no natural lighting. Blinking at the daylight, he lifted his head to glance around.

"Ah. The Fourth." He muttered to himself. He could easily recognize the surroundings. He'd been in this place just as much as Szayel's lab, back when he'd been alive. "Nngh." He tried to stretch and aborted the motion with a wince. That hurt, quite a lot in fact. "Orihime must have been tapped out." Not that he blamed her. Her efforts on him had been completely wasted.

The only question he had right now was whether or not they'd won. If Aizen was the new soul king, he might be here anyway, being treated to meet his new master. And likely be executed for his treachery. Grimmjow grimaced at the thought and tried to push himself up before falling back with a gasp. Whatever was in store for him, he wasn't going to avoid it, that was for sure.

"Oh, you're awake!" Isane. Grimmjow lifted his head to look at the woman and she gave him an anxious smile. "Are you feeling better?" She asked, bending over him and working on his bandages. They needed changing. Grimmjow grunted.

"I'm not dead. It'll do. Did we win?" He asked and she gave him a smile that was quite genuine and heartfelt.

"We did! Although only at the cost of Kurosaki Ichigo's shinigami powers." She said and Grimmjow stared, taken aback. His powers?

"Well, that sucks. He's alive though?" He asked and Isane nodded. "Good." Kurosaki could go back to being a normal human, doing normal human things. Grimmjow had only a vague idea of what those things might be, but they would be a lot less exciting than his work as a substitute shinigami. Oh well, he could always take up skydiving or something he supposed. "Well, that's good. I was afraid I was being healed up to kneel before Aizen." He said, sort of joking but not really. Isane shuddered a little at the thought. "Got any food?" He was pretty hungry. Isane looked uneasy.

"Yes, but… you… uh…" Her gaze drifted downwards to where his hollow hole was hidden by the blankets. Grimmjow sighed to himself.

"I can tell you how to make the condensed reishi pills Aizen fed us on." He said briefly. "I even made a few myself, I know it works." Right now, though, he was a bit tapped out. It would be better if someone else did it. Isane stared at him.

"Really? I'll get Unohana taichou." She left quickly and Grimmjow closed his eyes, trying to ignore the grumble in his gut. His body really wanted some food, all this healing was taxing. Unohana soon arrived, Isane following close behind.

"Isane says you know how to make food for yourself?" She asked and Grimmjow nodded.

"Yeah. I listened to everyone, and Szayel was always in love with his own voice." He said wryly. He'd figured out a long, long time ago that everyone likes a good listener. As a fukutaichou he'd perfected the art of the conversational grunt and sympathetic 'oh yeah?' It had helped him in his duties, learning about all his squad members and taking care of them. As an arrancar, it had helped him with his spying. Some of the Espada, like Ulquiorra and Starrk, weren't very talkative but plenty of them were more than willing to fill his ears. Szayel had been in the latter category, although he'd made plenty of witty remarks at Grimmjow's expense, confident that the other arrancar wasn't bright enough to understand. The only problem with getting information from him had been restraining himself from throttling the pink haired bastard. "It's pretty easy. Let me show you…" He showed her all the steps, producing a very tiny pill that he immediately ate. It did almost nothing, given the energy he'd spent making it. Unohana did the same thing, producing a much larger pill that he also ate. That made him sigh. "Thanks."

"I'm sure you could use some more. Isane, try to make one." She directed her fukutaichou. Isane concentrated and brought forth a slightly smaller pill. Grimmjow was more than happy to eat that as well. He was feeling quite a bit better after the third pill.

"That hit the spot." He said, feeling content. "I can make those for myself, when I'm healed up." The power that went into making a reishi pill was much less than an arrancar could get out of it, or they wouldn't have been able to sustain themselves. Unohana nodded, her expression curious.

"I assume you didn't include this in your reports because it wasn't immediately useful." She said and Grimmjow nodded. He'd only had limited time to make and deliver papers and verbal reports. He wasn't going to waste time detailing miscellaneous crap. "What else can you tell me about Aizen's experiments?"

"Uh…" That was a loaded question. Grimmjow didn't mind answering, exactly, but he knew some of it would likely make Isane go white. "Maybe the fukutaichou shouldn't listen to this." He glanced at her and she bit her lip. "Szayel was an evil fucker." That did make the silver haired girl go pale, and Unohana gestured for her to leave, which she gratefully did. "Okay."

Grimmjow spent the next several hours detailing the more interesting of Szayel's experiments. He also told Unohana everything he knew about arrancar physiology, which was rather a lot. In addition to the things he'd learned from Szayel, he'd personally gutted more than a few Numeros and knew their biology rather well. He didn't regret it a bit either. They'd damned well deserved it. Then he asked the taichou a question.

"What's going to happen to me now?" Grimmjow was almost afraid to hear the answer. Although if they were going to give him konso, it would have been kinder to just do it while he was unconscious. He could have gone into the light with nary a tremor. Unohana paused for a moment before giving him a gentle smile.

"There's some debate about that, but the Gotei 13 and all of the Seireitei owes you a great debt. We could not have accomplished what we did without you." She said and Grimmjow nodded. The fake Karakura town had been built based on his information. And he'd told them that Orihime's kidnapping was a feint, meant to draw away their strongest warriors while Aizen began building his King's key. So they'd been ready, not that it had really done a lot of good. It had all come down to Kurosaki, in the end. Grimmjow felt a nagging guilt at the thought. He'd made the kid's life hell for no good reason. He really ought to apologize for that. "For now, just rest. You will not be given konso without consent."

"Tch." He muttered. "And are the Maggot's Nest and Sokyoku hill out of the question?" He knew shinigami notions of justice and had suffered under them a time or two, during his feud with Nozomi. Unohana wasn't surprised at the question, but then, she'd been around a while too. She gently patted his shoulder with one hand.

"Completely. Komamura would never stand for it, and everyone saw you attempt to attack Aizen." She said comfortingly and Grimmjow just had to accept that. Hopefully, she was right. If not, he would just opt for the konso.

He wasn't afraid of death, but he was afraid of the Maggot's Nest.


	3. Old Enemies and New Friends

Grimmjow sat on top of a wall, eating a taiyaki and watching the traffic go by.

He'd healed up quite nicely and been given the run of the Seireitei. He'd been asked not to leave the city within a city, and that was fine. He'd grown up in the Rukongai and from what little he'd seen as an arrancar, it hadn't changed a bit. He wasn't interested in revisiting the squalor of his childhood.

He noticed that the people of the Seireitei tended to speed up a bit when they spotted him sitting there, and snorted to himself. Theoretically, he was welcome here. Everyone knew now about his part in bringing Aizen down. But spy or not, ally or not, he was still an Espada, an arrancar, a hollow. Most of the people here were scared of him and at least half the Gotei 13 thought he should be given soul burial and sent on his way. Grimmjow didn't really hold it against them – it was what you did with a corrupted soul – but he just didn't want it. Life was too sweet to give up easily and he really didn't feel much different than he had when he was alive.

Grimmjow glanced down at his second weapon and smiled. 'Nixie was with him permanently now, and he'd been working with her to properly master his bankai. He didn't even have to work at maintaining the connection anymore, and his power read more like a Visored than an arrancar. He thought it was a good thing, in general, although any of the surviving arrancar would know instantly that he had changed. He'd never be any use as a spy again.

Grimmjow finished his taiyaki, savoring the last few bites of the fish shaped waffle cake. He loved the sweet bean paste and licked his fingers clean when he was done, getting every last crumb. Then he grunted as his ear itched and used his little finger to clean it out, still watching the passing traffic. People watching had always been a hobby of his –

"I see you still have that horrible habit." Someone below him said and Grimmjow glanced down, startled. He easily recognized the child like appearance, white hair and turquoise eyes. The faint scowl was new, as was the captain's haori. There was a woman with huge boobs behind him, what was her name again? Rangiku, that was it. He had known her only slightly as Teru.

"Hitsugaya!" Grimmjow shoved himself off the wall to land beside the startled taichou and pat him on the head with a grin. "Would you know me without it?" He teased as Hitsugaya slapped away his hand with a scowl.

"Don't treat me like a child!" He snapped and Grimmjow snorted, leaning against a wall.

"You're a lot younger than me." He pointed out, then grinned as the white haired taichou scowled. "And I never treated you as a child. Remember the time I snuck you into the Bar and Anchor after the bouncer wouldn't let you in for lookin' like a kid? And then we both got drunk as hell and then Nozomi showed up and you tried to freeze his hair –"

"Enough!" Hitsugaya ordered, flushing lightly. But his subordinate was looking absolutely fascinated.

"When did this happen? And why wasn't I invited?" She demanded and Grimmjow grinned.

"A long, long time ago. And you weren't invited because Liriel was organizing it and she didn't like you. I think she was jealous of your boobs." Grimmjow glanced down at said assets, making her preen slightly. "But she didn't think of getting Hitsy in so I had to sneak him through the kitchen. Good thing the cook liked me, we had a thing for a while."

"Oh god." Hitsugaya rested his face in his hand for a moment. "You are Teru. Appalling."

"I want to hear this story! So Nozomi showed up?" Rangiku encouraged him and Grimmjow grinned before continuing the story. There's been plenty of mayhem and a pretty much frozen bar when it was done. "Wow! Did you get in trouble for this?"

"Yes." Hitsugaya said grumpily. "And I would appreciate not being reminded of it." Grimmjow laughed but desisted. He had several other embarrassing stories about the young taichou, but he could see why a captain wouldn't care to remember his misspent youth. "Grimmjow, what are you planning to do?" He asked seriously and the Espada blinked at him.

"Planning? I don't have any plans. I can't make any 'til I know what the authorities around here are going to decide." That was the crux of the matter, in his opinion. He couldn't make any decisions until he knew what he was dealing with. Hitsugaya nodded with a small frown.

"I put that poorly. What do you want to do?" He asked and Grimmjow sat back on his heels. That was a different question entirely and not one that had an easy answer.

"Well… I don't want to go back to the Seventh." He said slowly. Komamura was a great guy, an excellent taichou, but he had a new fukutaichou now. And Iba did not like him. Grimmjow suspected it was because he was unsettled by the connection between Sajin and his old comrade, Teru. They had been close, much closer than Sajin was to his current fukutaichou. "It would cause problems if I did. I suppose I could join one of the other Divisions." He considered it for a moment. "I'm not sure who has any openings, though. I'd probably have to go in as a seated officer." It would be a step down from his former rank but if the fukutaichou spots were filled, they were filled. And he'd be promoted again someday when someone got on the wrong end of a powerful hollow, just like he had. "I dunno though. I'll always be out of place." He poked a finger in his hollow hole, making the two shinigami wince. "Can't hide what I am."

"If you wanted to stay in Soul Society, you would have to join a Division. They'll never allow you to just wander around." Hitsugaya said and Grimmjow nodded. "The other options are Hueco Mundo and the Living world."

"Yeah." Grimmjow considered them both for a moment. They each had drawbacks. "Fuck Hueco Mundo. Now that I'm an arrancar it's way too boring, and I didn't like anyone there anyway." The other hollows were a bit limited, to say the least, and most of the arrancar had been assholes. Harribel had been one of the few exceptions. "The Living world… I dunno. I saw a bit of it when I went there to beat up Kurosaki, and it's changed a lot." He wasn't sure what to make of it. The last time he'd done a serious patrol there, humans had been using horses for transportation and swords and muskets were the weapons of choice. Things had changed. Hitsugaya nodded, unsurprised.

"You should probably think seriously about the Living world. In a place like Karakura town you would have no trouble feeding yourself on reishi and with a gigai no one would know there is anything different about you." He suggested and Grimmjow considered it. It at least wouldn't be boring and Karakura town was a decent size. Nowhere near as big as the Seireitei and the Rukongai, but that was okay. "The only reason I'm bringing this up is because Unohana taichou mentioned that they might want to ask you what you want." Hitsugaya's tone was dry and Grimmjow grinned in amusement.

"Wow, what a novel suggestion!" He said and Hitsugaya smiled faintly as Rangiku laughed. "Well, I'll think about it in case they follow up on that. Tell me, when did you make taichou? I'm sorry I missed it." He really did regret that. Teru would have been in the front row, giving the kid a thumbs up.

"It was a while ago." They spent a bit of time catching up, and Grimmjow was sorry to hear that several people he'd known and cared for were dead. But he'd rather expected it, life in the Divisions was not safe. "You should look up Liriel, she's been trying to catch you."

"Really?" Grimmjow was very ambivalent about that. Liriel had been a friend, a good friend for a while. They'd never been lovers since she had been his direct subordinate and wasn't his type anyway, but there had been rumors. And then she'd gotten involved in his feud with Nozomi and things had gone really bad. That had been shortly before he'd died and he still had bitter regrets. Hitsugaya nodded, his turquoise eyes serious.

"I think she wants to apologize." He said quietly and Grimmjow stared at him for a moment, shocked. That Liriel might feel the need for that hadn't occurred to him.

"She has nothing to apologize for. I'm the one who should apologize for failing her." He said and Rangiku spoke up sharply.

"You did not! You got the shit beaten out of you after he cheated!" She said and Hitsugaya nodded. "And you never gave up, not once." She said fiercely and Grimmjow flinched at the reminder. That had been the worst day of his life, and the aftermath had contributed to his death. Pure carelessness on his part, but he'd also forced himself out of the medical ward too soon.

"I still failed and almost only counts in horseshoes." He said sourly, then shrugged. "I'll go see her so we can both apologize." Grimmjow thought that might be helpful. His primary personality still had a lot of guilt over that, even if it really wasn't his fault. That made his decision easier, though. Soul Society had too many painful memories. In a lot of ways, the living world would be a clean slate.

If he was given the choice, he would go to the Living world.

* * *

"So this is it." Grimmjow shrugged, trying to get adjusted to his new gigai. "Huh."

He was waiting in front of Ichigo's school. He honestly had no idea where the kid lived, and didn't want to come off as a crazy stalker anyway, so the school had seemed like a good compromise. The kid would have to leave through the front doors and then Grimmjow could catch up to him.

He wondered how the ex-shinigami would react. He wasn't sure anyone had explained to him what had gone down, but he rather suspected they hadn't. Orihime would have been able to give him a little but not much. Either way, though, he needed to apologize for being such a dick.

Sure enough, school ended and the kids piled out, laughing and talking. Grimmjow waited until he spotted familiar orange hair – that shade really was damned distinctive – then followed behind the teen. He wasn't walking too quickly, a book bag slung over his shoulder as he talked to his friends.

Unfortunately, that presented too good an opportunity to pass up. Grimmjow walked up behind them as they were waiting at the bus stop until he was directly behind Kurosaki, and grinned to himself. He could be quiet when he wanted to be and absolutely no one had noticed he was there.

"Boo." He said and had the pleasure of seeing Ichigo and his friends jump. Well, except for the Chad guy. He just turned to look. "Hey Kurosaki, long time no see."

"Grimmjow!" Ichigo went into a fighting stance, holding his book bag like a weapon. Grimmjow had no doubt he could do some serious damage with it and grinned, amused. The Quincy was glaring at him while Orihime stared at him with a hand over her mouth. "What do you want?" The teen snapped and Grimmjow admired his spirit. It wasn't like there was much he could do, if the former Espada was planning mayhem. But despite that, brown eyes were glowing with resolve and a fierce desire to protect.

"I wanted to apologize to you." He said and smiled as Orihime gasped. Uryu frowned and Chad just looked thoughtful. "But it looks like we don't have much time." He glanced down the road. The bus was pulling up to take these kids who knows where. "Can we meet up at the coffee shop with the mermaid woman on it? About a block from here?" He hoped Ichigo would know what he was talking about, since he mostly didn't.

"Screw that. I can catch a later bus." Ichigo said decisively and Grimmjow blinked. He hadn't expected that. "Come with me." He set off purposefully and Grimmjow hesitated, feeling a bad sense of déjà vu before growling to himself. He was not going to be ruled by old memories. He followed the kid and tried to ignore the orange hair. Why did it have to bother him so much?

They fetched up against a short brick wall and Ichigo jumped on top, taking a seat. Grimmjow got the idea and followed him, sitting beside him. He shifted uneasily, wondering where to start as the teen gave him a flinty look. This was going to be hard.

"I'm not gonna apologize for fighting you." He started off abruptly. "I needed to do it to get rid of my fraccion and establish my cover as a nutcase. But I want to apologize for beating you up so bad the first time." Ichigo was still scowling but he forged on. "I was just being an asshole because I don't like your hair and I'm sorry."

"You don't like my _hair?_" Ichigo stared at him for a moment before giving him a look of disgust that made his stomach clench. "What kind of a reason is that to beat someone up?" He demanded and Grimmjow winced. It did sound incredibly juvenile.

"You have the same hair color as the guy I was pretty much at war with, when I was a shinigami." He explained and examined the teen beside him for a moment. "It's not just your hair, either. There's a resemblance in your face too. His eyes were blue though." Grimmjow rubbed the back of his head for a moment. "You want to hear the story? It's a lot of old shit and the ending is depressing as fuck."

"Why don't you start from the beginning? You were a shinigami?" The teen asked and Grimmjow blinked.

"They didn't tell you anything?" He questioned and grimaced as Ichigo shook his head. "Okay. My name was Teru Narobu. I came from the Rukongai and joined the academy to get the fuck out of that shithole. My second year they decided I was hot stuff and moved me to the accelerated program. Then they decided I was really hot stuff and put me up a year." Grimmjow sighed. "If I'd known what was going to happen then I'd have begged them not to. Because that put me in Nozomi's year class."

"Now, keep in mind that I hated the bastard with the fire of a thousand suns." Grimmjow said as lightly as he could. "So this might be a little biased. You should probably ask Shunsui for a fair assessment; he was Nozomi's taichou for a while. But I think he was fucked up in the head." Grimmjow paused for a moment, remembering the man. "He looked like you, a bit, but he wore his hair longer with a gold clip in the back. The other students in his year, half of them were trying to keep their heads down and not get noticed, while the other half were trying to toady up to him in the hopes that he wouldn't target them. They were all scared to death of him. I'd say he was a bully, but that doesn't really do it justice. He'd play games with people for fun, and if he decided he really didn't like someone he'd go after them. And he was fucking merciless about it. If the teachers came down on him he wouldn't stop, he'd just get all sneaky, and he was from a noble family. His parents saved him from a lot of trouble."

"So, I joined his year group and Nozomi hated me spot off." Grimmjow continued his story, glancing at Ichigo to see how the teen was taking it. He was looking a little disturbed. "I was outgoing and pretty popular with the students in my old group, and he didn't like that. I also think he didn't like the fact that I wasn't scared of him. I never scared easily." Grimmjow smiled as he remembered. With the tough, determined attitude he'd had back then it was no wonder he'd managed to win control of this body. "Things went downhill from there. We both got into trouble so many times… if Nozomi hadn't been such a problem child, I might have been expelled. But the teachers know I had a great record before I got into that year class, and Nozomi sure as hell didn't. Finally, after a year of that shit they moved me up another year just to part us." Grimmjow smiled wickedly as he remembered. "And that chaffed his ass, bad."

"He kept going after me, mostly by manipulating other students." Grimmjow said, remembering one particular fight where he'd taken on four of his fellow students… and won. "And sometimes, pulling really nasty brat pranks. I tried to ignore him, mostly, and it was easier when we didn't have to look at each other every day. Then we graduated, though, and it didn't stop. The shit just got more serious." His expression turned grim, then. "I went to serve under Komamaru, while Shunsui got stuck with Nozomi. For a while it was just random fights whenever we met, and he started in on a few other people, like Hitsugaya –"

"Toshiro? A taichou? That doesn't make any sense." Ichigo interrupted with a frown. Grimmjow shook his head.

"This was a while ago, Kurosaki. He wasn't a taichou back then, he graduated a few years after me. And he was the kind of guy Nozomi hated… talented, powerful and not scared of him." Kurosaki's frown increased and Grimmjow wondered what he was thinking. "Then I was promoted to fukutaichou and that really burnt his biscuit. Nozomi was powerful as hell, but his people skills were shit. And he was delusional about it. I swear, he honestly thought he was treating people right." Grimmjow rolled his eyes at the thought. "He couldn't get why Kyoraku wouldn't promote him, despite the fact that he had a shikai and was working on bankai. He was such a douchebag."

"Yeah, so are you. Keep going." Ichigo said shortly and Grimmjow laughed for a moment.

"Ouch! Guilty as charged. Anyway, after I made it to fukutaichou he seemed to get more erratic and crazier. I won't go into all that shit, but it came to a head after about, umm… almost fifteen years." Grimmjow said after a quick mental calculation. "See, there was this girl, Liriel Mazena. She was my subordinate and we weren't lovers, just good friends. But you know how rumors are and I swear the entire Division thought we were doing it. She didn't have a shikai or anything, just your basic shinigami. Nozomi caught her alone and raped her." He said as emotionlessly as he could, but Ichigo's eyes still widened. "There was no real evidence. It came down to he said, she said, and he got some of his lackeys to lie for him. I knew he'd done it because he thought she was my lover, and I was pissed as fuck, so I challenged him to a duel." Grimmjow glanced at Kurosaki, but couldn't read anything in his expression. He was completely closed off. "You know how I beat the shit out of you the first time we fought?"

"Of course." He sounded irritated and Grimmjow smiled, briefly.

"It went like that, only worse." He said and Ichigo blinked. "I still don't know how he did it, but he managed to drug me before the fight. Nozomi never fought fair if he could help it. And he beat the living shit out of me. Broke my cheek, broke my jaw, broke my ribs… he kept demanding that I give up and admit he was the stronger, and I just wouldn't. I kept going after him even with that poison running through me, and he just kept hitting me. Finally, Sajin and Shunsui stepped in to stop it, even though it was against the rules. When they were healing me in the Fourth they found the drug – it really was more of a poison – but it was really slow acting, so they couldn't pinpoint when someone gave it to me, or who it was." Grimmjow shrugged, feeling defeated just telling the story. "I was in a funk after that. I'd failed Liriel and been humiliated in front of everyone. I left the medical team as fast as I could and got killed by a hollow like a dumbass. And that's the end."

"You make him sound like a lunatic." Ichigo said, his tone reserved. Grimmjow gave him a crooked smile.

"I told you I hated him. But it doesn't matter. That was my history with Nozomi, and I took all that shit out on you. So, I'm apologizing for being a douchebag. Forgive me?" He offered the teen his hand, not really expecting him to take it. If Ichigo wanted to hate him, well, he'd earned it. But those brown eyes examined him for a moment and Kurosaki nodded before taking his hand.

"I can forgive you." He said quietly, to Grimmjow's surprise. "But I have a few questions for you."

"Okay." He could go with that. Ichigo took a breath before continuing.

"Why did you hurt Rukia like that?" He asked and Grimmjow grimaced, reaching up to get a bit of earwax out of his ear with his pinky. That really was a bad habit, but he'd been doing it since he was a little kid.

"I needed to get her out of the fight and I knew that wouldn't kill her." He said and Ichigo gave him a very skeptical look.

"Then why did you almost cero her head off the second time?" He asked and Grimmjow laughed.

"I wasn't going to, Kurosaki. She would have had some fucking awesome burns, but she would have lived. I was just as glad when Shinji stepped in though." He paused for a moment, but honesty made him speak again. "I was going to blow your head off though. I'm okay when we just talk like this, but when we fight, well… I start imagining his face over yours. It makes things hard." His temper went completely out of hand and logic vanished when that happened. Ichigo sighed, looking down.

"It's hard for me to believe all this." He said softly and Grimmjow nodded. They had been bitter enemies. He didn't expect Kurosaki to become his best friend overnight. "So you just came here to apologize?" He sounded like he didn't believe it and Grimmjow grinned.

"If by here you mean this school, yeah. If you mean the Living world, no, I'm staying here permanently." That made Ichigo give him a disbelieving look and Grimmjow shrugged. "I could have taken a spot in the Divisions but I made too many people nervous. It seemed like a good idea to get away from it all and start a new life. I do have to check in regularly, though." Soul Society wasn't just going to let him go without keeping some kind of tabs on him. "And I'm expected to take care of any hollows and ghosts I run into."

"By eating them?" Kurosaki asked and Grimmjow scowled. That was logical but still rather insulting.

"No. Yamamato would have a fucking cow. I give them konso." Kurosaki frowned and Grimmjow hesitated. "You saw that second weapon I used at the end there, right?" His eyes widened a little at that. "That was my shinigami zanpakuto. Her name's Phoenixi, and she let me have her bankai to use against Aizen. Which went absolutely awesome." He said wearily and Ichigo nodded, this time sympathetically.

"At least no one died." He said with a small smile and Grimmjow laughed.

"Yeah, no one died." He thought about asking Ichigo if it bothered him, losing his powers, but decided that was way too personal a question at the moment. They weren't good friends yet and he wasn't sure they ever would be. "So anyway, they gave me a year's pay at my fukutaichou rank and Urahara exchanged it for me. I've got an apartment with all the basics and I've got a job as a bicycle courier. I do a lot of deliveries for the local curry place." He was also occasionally busking on the streets for change. He could play both the fiddle and harp, in addition to his arrancar voice, and he'd gotten a violin from the pawn shop after arriving in the Living world. It was pretty good quality for what he'd paid and was getting a fair amount of use. He wasn't going to mention that to Kurosaki, though. As Teru, he'd always considered his music nothing more than a hobby, and Grimmjow pretty much thought the same.

"Weird. Somehow, I can easily picture you on a bike." Ichigo commented. Then his hand suddenly shot out, gripping Grimmjow by the collar and yanking him close so the teen could glare right into his face. The arrancar had to suppress a snarl at the sudden rough handling. "I can forgive you for what you did to me. But if you ever hurt my friends again, I will kill you. Got it?"

"Your track record at killing me sucks, shinigami." Grimmjow growled then winced to himself as Ichigo's eyes flickered. He shouldn't have called him that. "Yeah, I get it. Let go." He said and the teen released his hold, jumping down from the wall.

"See you around, Grimmjow." He said, walking away. Grimmjow rubbed his throat for a moment, watching him go, and wondered if they would ever meet again.


	4. Blade of Bone

Grimmjow grinned as he pumped the pedals of his bicycle, heading down the hill at an absolutely reckless pace.

He wasn't worried though. He was a master of the art of bicycling, and his mastery dated back to the Rukongai. Soul Society wasn't big on modern technology, but a few people had cobbled together bikes and rikshaws anyhow. He'd managed to get a bike and had used it the exact way he was now, to make deliveries. He'd become incredibly proficient at avoiding things, no matter how quickly he was flying.

His spiritual powers helped with that and as a child darted into the street he avoided her by simply going over in a tremendous jump. Her shrieking mother wasn't impressed, but Grimmjow wasn't concerned. There had been no danger at all, except for the fact that the kid had run out into the road like an idiot. Next time she might meet a car instead of him.

He started to sing the theme track to Rocky as he headed over the railroad tracks. This delivery was right on the edge of his area, so he needed to really move it or the food would be getting cold when he arrived. And he wanted a tip.

Grimmjow finally pulled up in front of a little house and delivered the boxed up curry dishes. His tip was okay but not stellar, and he noted it in his mental rolodex in the 'fine' category. Some houses were on his shit list for not tipping or giving insulting tips, and he never forgot. He wasn't going to bust his ass for shitty tippers.

It was late and the curry place was going to be closing soon, so Grimmjow sent them a quick text. He quickly got confirmation that he wasn't needed and set off for home. He planned to get his violin and do some busking.

It had taken a while, but he'd finally found the best time and place to make music. There was one particular street in town that was full of shops, nice restaurants and lots of bars. When people came out at night they seemed to be willing to have some fun and toss a few coins in the hat. It wasn't a lot, but Grimmjow could make a bit of money and indulge his love for having an audience. He strongly suspected that his good looks didn't hurt, either. Women in particular tended to stop and smile a bit.

This night, though, something weird happened. A lanky guy with really bad hair and teeth listened to him for quite a while. Grimmjow glanced at him before starting a new song. This one was a lament, and he sang the words as he played, making the fiddle keen with sadness. Not the best of choices to make money, perhaps, but he played whatever he felt like.

The guy with the bad teeth dropped something into the hat, giving him a snaggle toothed smile. Grimmjow smiled back, amused. The guy rather reminded him of one of his old subordinates. The poor kid had been hit by the ugly stick, hard, but he'd been very nice to deal with. The similarity made him feel a bit friendly. Then the guy left and Grimmjow put him out of mind.

He remembered later, though, when he got home and started cleaning out his hat. He'd made almost twenty dollars, not bad for a couple hours of playing. But someone had put something unusual in there.

"Raining Bread, the hottest band in town! Playing at the Hidden Valley nightclub every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Be there or be a rectangular thing! What the fuck?" Grimmjow read the card, wondering why someone would have given it to him. Then he flipped it over and saw someone had written on the bank. "We're looking for a singer call me at… oh." That was interesting. "Huh." Grimmjow had never considered joining a band. Frowning, he set the card in his 'interesting stuff' wall hanger. It was a wooden thing that held papers, mostly bills.

It was too late to call tonight. He'd look into that tomorrow.

* * *

Grimmjow was giving the best performance of his life.

He'd never suffered from stage fright. Maybe it was because music had never been his focus in life, or maybe Teru had just been a bit too egotistical to worry about it. But Grimmjow was the same way, and he knew he was hitting the notes beautifully. Who could not be impressed?

Unfortunately, as he came out of his music fugue he realized the audience wasn't impressed. Well, the guy with the ugly hair and teeth was beaming, but his buddies weren't.

"Damnit Reyo, you know we're not doing classical shit. What good is this?" One guy complained. He was a sandy blonde who wore his hair in an old fashioned mullet. His clothing was all black, with a weird picture on the front and greasy from his last meal. Grimmjow scowled. Classical shit?

"Yeah, sure he'd be great at the opera but –" That was as far as the second guy got before Grimmjow snarled into the microphone. The sound was very animalistic and he was surprised at the reaction. Instead of cowering or even flinching, all of them gave him their full attention. "Do that again." The second guy, a brunette with deeply tanned skin, demanded. Grimmjow hesitated before snarling again. "Sweet! What other sounds can you make?"

"Uh…" Grimmjow was completely lost by that request, but shrugged and showed them his panther sounds. He had a very good growl and an ear piercing yowl. They all looked impressed at that, which struck the arrancar as incredibly weird. He'd used that sound around Aizen once and gotten slapped down, hard.

"See? I told you he has talent! Can you sing more harshly?" Reyo said eagerly and Grimmjow blinked. Sing more harshly?

"You mean, sing like I'm mad?" He hazarded a guess and he nodded eagerly. "…Sure." He'd never tried to put temper into music before, but he supposed he could. He picked a martial song, something about making people die, and instead of singing it in his usual melodic way he made his voice snarly. That seemed to please them.

"See? I told you!" The guy with the bad teeth, Reyo, said with a grin. "It's a lot easier to teach someone who knows how to sing to sing our way then to work with someone who can't sing at all!"

"Well, okay, maybe you have a point." The mullet man allowed. "But what's this about a violin? You think we can use that Reyo?"

"Why not? They make cool sounds. Metallica played with the Philharmonic, you know." He countered and Grimmjow lifted his eyebrows. What kind of a band was this? "Can you play some stuff for us? And make it harsh?"

"Yeah, sure." Grimmjow said, bending down and getting out his violin. He was starting to find this entertaining. He deliberately made his fiddle scream, but then ventured off into some heart rending sounds before segueing into a quick jig. It was just showing off, but he didn't much care.

"What do you guys think?" Reyo asked and the three other band members exchanged glances. The third guy had green hair, which would have struck Grimmjow as weirder if he hadn't seen the Espada. And if his own hair wasn't blue.

"You're the music maker, Reyo. If you think he'll work we'll have a go." The mullet guy said before standing and offering Grimmjow a hand. "I'm Katsu. That's Taro –" He pointed to the guy who green hair, who nodded. "And that's Yoshi." The dark guy nodded. Grimmjow shook hands with everyone.

"I'm Grimmjow, but you can call me Grimm." He said easily. He preferred the short form in the Living world, it didn't sound quite as strange as his full name. He supposed he could have gone by Teru, but that just didn't seem right. "So what kind of music do you guys make, anyway?" He was completely clueless. Katsu looked pained, but Reyo was enthusiastic.

"Here, take a listen, I have it on my iPod!" He passed the little thing over and Grimmjow looked at it for a moment before popping in the earbuds. He was getting a hang of this modern technology thing, although he still had no idea how to use a computer.

The music he was listening to was not exactly musical. The sounds of the electric guitars were harsh, and the singer was worse. At first he didn't like it at all, but then it started to grow on him. With a blink, Grimmjow realized that a large part of his collection of souls liked this kind of music, and they were influencing him. Teru wouldn't even have considered this music, but his primary personality was not necessarily the final say on what he would like.

"Not bad." He pulled out the earbuds and passed the iPod back. "I think we can make this work. Maybe a beauty and the beast thing?" They all looked confused except Reyo.

"You mean, you could sing sweetly then go into the real stuff? I like it!" Reyo said enthusiastically. "We should totally do that. We need a hook for this band, something to make us really memorable. Maybe we can even convince Masoki to give us some more gigs!"

"Well, before you worry about that, I have some questions. When do we play, when do we practice and what will I be getting paid? Because I already have a job." Grimmjow said. That took some working out and writing things down, but after some careful calculations in his head he decided he could make it work. The pay wasn't good, but he hadn't expected it to be. Music was something you did because you loved it, not because it paid well.

Grimmjow's soul collection might have been able to tell him otherwise, if they had been sentient. But they weren't, and even if they had, the odds of becoming a celebrity were so low that Grimmjow would have dismissed the possibility out of hand. And really, he wouldn't even have desired it.

All he wanted out of life was to be a modest success.

* * *

Grimmjow's next meeting with Kurosaki was a surprise to them both.

Grimmjow was biking back from the mall when it happened. He'd hit up the place for clothes and some soap and shampoo. His hairstyle was completely natural, no care needed, but people did notice his funk if he didn't bathe. And like Aizen, most of them found it off putting. Hollows had quite another reaction and Grimmjow grinned as he thought about the one that had followed him home. It had clearly been love struck and he'd given it konso as fast as he could.

All his stuff was fitted into his baskets and secured with ropes, as he pedaled home. During his time in the Rukongai as Teru, Grimmjow had become an expert at tying things down and arranging loads. This was actually a small haul, compared to some of the things he'd done. Grimmjow was feeling bright and cheerful as he caught a familiar spiritual pressure.

"Hollow, and close." He muttered, changing his course. It was his job to help out with hollows, although the local shinigami was complaining about people taking his job. Grimmjow really had no idea what his to-do was. They were only making his job easier and from what Grimmjow could sense of his power, this guy was never going to be promoted. Basic shinigami like Liriel, that was all he was and ever would be.

Not that that was a bad thing. Basic shinigami handled all the basic hollows and ghosts. There needed to be a lot of them to every bankai wielder, making sure most hollows never got to the point where a bankai was required to stop them. Grimmjow was still musing about the power structure when he reached the top of a rather large hill and looked down.

_Fuck!_ His breath hissed out as he saw the two girls and a very familiar orange hair color. There was a large and very nasty hollow in front of them, and it was going after the girls. Ichigo clearly couldn't even _see_ it, and he was still trying to fight. It would have been funny if it hadn't been so dangerous. And Grimmjow saw only one way to get down there in time to save everyone and mentally bid goodbye to his bike as he flew down the hill.

He'd done this before in the Rukongai, when he'd seen four guys menacing a girl. He'd been pretty sure he'd known what they were after, and it wasn't money, so it had been worth risking his bike. The bike had actually come through with only minor damage but he doubted he'd be so lucky against a hollow.

He was right. Flying down the hill he aimed carefully, then did an awesome jump before releasing his bike and shoving off. He flew through the air, landing easily – another difference, his landing in the Rukongai had not been smooth at all – and grinned as the bike hit the hollow with a sound of smashing metal. The hollow howled, trying to rip the bike off its head. Interestingly, that helped Ichigo quite a bit. He couldn't see the hollow but he could see the bike getting ripped to shreds. He landed a good, solid kick, which basically just annoyed the hollow. Grimmjow grimaced as he abandoned his gigai and went after the creature with his swords.

It was a mindless sort of hollow, just some poor soul that had gone insane after too much time without konso. Grimmjow rectified that in short order, using Pantera to wound the thing and Phoenixi to deliver the finishing stroke. It was important to do it that way, if he killed the hollow with Pantera he would automatically absorb the soul. And while Soul Society would probably forgive the occasional mishap, he didn't want to get into the habit of that. The hollow vanished, his or her sins purified, and Grimmjow grimaced as he looked at his bike.

"What a fucking mess." He muttered to himself. Fortunately, he still had money put away from his fukutaichou pay. He could afford a new one, but this was something else he'd better not get in the habit of. "Hey, Kurosaki! You owe me… oh." The kid wasn't even looking at him and for a brief moment Grimmjow thought he was ignoring him, which pissed him off. Then he remembered. The ex-shinigami couldn't even see him like this. His sisters obviously could and Yuzu was telling him what had just occurred. "Right." Frowning to himself, he got back into his body. It had been lying dead on the ground, which was hardly ideal but he hadn't really had time for a Soul Candy. "Now that you can hear me, Kurosaki, you owe me big time for that." Shaking his head, he began to get the wreckage off the road. "Shit, he fucked up my clothes too!" They were all shredded. Muttering to himself, he found a convenient dumpster to toss the whole thing into. Someone else could deal with that. Then he blinked and turned as he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Thank you Grimmjow. You're right, I owe you one." Kurosaki said but Grimmjow was taken aback by the tone and the look on his face. His voice was quiet and he sounded tired, saddened. And the look on his face was so defeated.

"Don't look at me like that!" Grimmjow barked, aware of the fact that he was being a dick. But he couldn't stand to see that look on Kurosaki's face. It was just so _wrong._ "Where the hell is the shinigami who beat the shit out of me?" He growled and saw pain cross Ichigo's face. "Don't act like you've given up or some shit!" Even as he said the words he knew it was cruel. What did he think he was doing? But at least the defeat on Kurosaki's face vanished, replaced by anger.

"What the hell else am I supposed to do, Grimmjow? I can't even _see_ hollows! I can't protect my sisters from them!" He yelled back, his voice full of anguish. Grimmjow grimaced at the thought. He'd assumed Ichigo could go back to being a normal teen, when he'd first learned about his lost powers. But Yuzu and Karin were still attracting hollows, and Karakura town had an abnormally high number of them. They were attracted by the high reishi environment, similar to Soul Society or Hueco Mundo. "I'm useless!" There was a sob at the end of that and Grimmjow gripped his shoulders, shaking the boy for a moment.

"Shut up! You are never useless. You managed to fight something you couldn't even see." He said roughly, then took a deep breath. "Look. We can go to Urahara together, see if he can come up with something for you."

"He can't. There's no way to restore my spiritual pressure." Ichigo said harshly then frowned as Grimmjow laughed.

"You were a fucking spiritual nuke, Kurosaki. You don't need _that_ reiatsu back, now do you? You just need something to defend your sisters with." He said and the teen blinked, his expression turning a little thoughtful. "A basic shinigami could do that. Shit, you don't even need a shikai for most of the crap around this town. I'm sure we can't get your old power back, but maybe we can come up with something smaller. It's worth a shot, right?"

"I… never thought of that. Maybe…" There was hope in those brown eyes again, and Grimmjow let go of his shoulders, just realizing he was still holding them. Ichigo examined him for a moment. "You think this will work?"

"Honestly? I have no idea." He said frankly and was a little surprised when Ichigo smiled, faintly. "But when do you want to do this? Maybe I can help." That wasn't as farfetched as it might seem. He was an arrancar with genuine shinigami abilities. Maybe he could help come up with something that would help Kurosaki. That made the kid frown again, though.

"Why are you helping me?" He asked suspiciously and Grimmjow considered it for a moment before chuckling softly.

"Tit for tat, shinigami. If I help you, you help me. Teach me how to use a computer." He said and had the satisfaction of seeing Kurosaki completely speechless. "Teru died back when horses and swords were the shit. I have more recent souls in here and some of them have given me stuff, but I'm pulling a big fucking zero when it comes to computers. And I'm getting tired as hell of the guys at work talking about ram and shit and all I can do is nod a lot and try to look like I know what the fuck they're talking about. Is that fair?" He thought it was. Kurosaki blinked then nodded.

"Sure. Uh – hey!" He said as his sister elbowed him out of the way. Karin and Yuzu were completely recovered from their near disaster, and Karin at least was getting impatient.

"We need to get going, Ichi-nii. And thank you for helping save us." She said to Grimmjow and out of curiosity, he checked her spiritual pressure. Unfortunately, it was immature. Once she properly hit puberty it would probably explode, but for now she wasn't going to be strong enough to defend herself and her sister. Yuzu, he could tell, was never going to be powerful. She was just barely strong enough to attract hollows more than a regular soul.

"No problem. Hey, one sec." Grimmjow took out a pen and, after a brief search, managed to find the receipt for his recent and ruined purchases. Doing bicycle delivery, he always needed to have a pen handy. "Here's my cell number. Give me a call to arrange something." He had a busy schedule and Kurosaki probably did too. The teen nodded, taking the paper.

"Sure. See you later, Grimmjow." He said and Grimmjow watched them go for a moment before starting towards the bike store. It was going to be a long walk, but you did what you had to do.

A bike would never be more precious than lives.

* * *

_Master, I don't think this is a good idea._ Pantera said, worriedly. Grimmjow laughed at his hollow zanpakuto as he worked on his little project.

"You came up with this idea." He pointed out as Phoenixi snickered. She had a very nasty snicker.

_He never thought you would actually do it when he pointed out the possible consequences._ She said and Grimmjow heard Pantera growl. The two zanpakuto didn't necessarily get along, not surprising when one of them was the essence of his hollow power and the other was emphatically shinigami in nature. They were constantly at cross purposes in his soul, and he achieved his true power only when he got them to work together. _Those consequences are pretty extreme, though. Are you really sure you want to do this?_

"It's only a temporary measure. I'll reclaim it as soon as Urahara comes up with something better." Grimmjow had a great deal of faith in the shinigami. He'd been the guy to come up with half of Aizen's cube, surely he could do something for Kurosaki. And in the meantime, this would do the job. "Besides, how likely is he to break it?"

_This is Kurosaki you're talking about._ Pantera pointed out and Grimmjow had to pause, remembering his battles with the kid. He was reckless as hell. Still…

"I'll spell out what could happen to me. I'm sure he'll take care of it." Grimmjow said and sighed as both the zanpakuto gave him a dubious feeling. "Stop worrying, okay? We'll be fine."

_If you say so._ Grimmjow could sense Pantera giving up the argument, which was good because he needed to devote his full attention to what he was doing.

He was attempting to split off a small piece of his power, and imbue it with certain properties. Without Pantera's and Phoenixi's help, he couldn't have done this, but with them both helping he was making it work. By the end he was sweating and exhausted, but he was holding a long dagger made of bone. More a short sword than a dagger, it had a ragged, but brutally sharp edge that reminded him of a shark's tooth. It would be quite efficient at hurting hollows.

"Okay." Grimmjow paused to make himself some reishi pills. When he was feeling better, he headed out the door to get his new bike and start going over to Kisuke's. With a soft word, the dagger changed into a femur. It might look weird, to be carrying a bone around, but it beat a knife. A dagger that size would make a lot of people nervous.

Sticking the bone in his bike basket, he set off for Urahara's shop. It wasn't that close, but he'd given himself plenty of time and he showed up a bit early. Taking the bone out of the basket, he went inside and began to idly peruse the candy selection. Since he'd arrived in the Living world he'd developed a bit of a sweet tooth and there was no reason not to indulge it. Since he couldn't really use physical food, sweets could not make him fat.

"Who the hell are you, Fred Flinstone – OW!" Grimmjow neatly popped a redheaded kid over the head with his bone. "FUCK YOU!"

"Try being polite to strangers, brat. I'm here for Urahara, he's expecting me." Grimmjow said in a bored tone as the brat rubbed his head and scowled.

"Stupid bastards I need a raise…" Grimmjow tuned him out as the kid brought him to the back of the store. Urahara was sitting on a cushion and sipping some tea. The shopkeeper smiled as he saw him.

"Hello Grimmjow – what is that?" His attention was immediately caught by the bone in his hand, not an unusual reaction. Grimmjow gave the second command word and it turned back into a dagger.

"It's something I cooked up for Kurosaki. It'll let him see hollows and injure them, but if he kills them it will absorb their souls, so he might want to just use it to drive 'em off." He said, setting the blade on the table. It was part of his hollow power so if Kurosaki used it to kill a hollow, he would take the soul whether he wanted to or not. Urahara frowned, picking up the short sword and examining it.

"Fascinating. There is an extremely hollow feeling to this blade." He said and Grimmjow nodded. "How did you make it?" Grimmjow began detailing how he had split his power, leaving out the possible consequences to himself. Kisuke could probably figure those out on his own. He was just finishing as Kurosaki arrived.

"Urahara, Grimmjow. What's that?" His attention was immediately caught by the bone blade, not surprising really. It looked weird as hell and it was solid enough that he could see it. Grimmjow grinned and took it from Urahara, passing it over to him.

"Something I made for you. It's part of my power, so take really good care of it." He cautioned the teen as Kurosaki looked at the dagger in bewilderment. "It will let you see hollows and injure them. You can kill them with it if you absolutely have to, but try to just drive them off. If you kill them with that you'll be feeding souls to me and someone could get pissy." Grimmjow said as Ichigo looked at him strangely. "What?"

"You didn't have to do that, Grimmjow." He said then hesitated. "What did you mean, take good care of it? It's not fragile, is it?" Grimmjow huffed a laugh, glancing at the blade again.

"Shit no, it's tough as hell. But… if it breaks, and it would take a LOT to break it, you'll have broken my mask." He said plainly as Ichigo frowned. "You remember Nel? How she's a baby most of the time, but can resume her true form for a while? I'd turn into something like that." That made Kurosaki's eyes widen and he looked at the dagger again before shaking his head.

"Grimmjow, I can't accept this." He said and Grimmjow shook his head.

"It's only a stopgap measure. Once Urahara comes up with something better, you can give it back. Oh, it has a command word to turn it into something a bit more socially acceptable than a knife." He taught Ichigo the words and grinned as he saw the teen's reaction to holding a femur.

"How am I supposed to explain bringing a bone to school?" He asked and Grimmjow shrugged.

"Got me. But at least a bone won't get you expelled." He pointed out and Kurosaki nodded ruefully, setting the bone down on the table. "Now can we get down to the other stuff?" He'd like that piece of his power back sooner rather than later. Urahara jumped in, all smiles behind his fan.

"Of course! I have some tests to run on you, Ichigo. Please follow me. And I would like to test you as well, Grimmjow, if you don't mind. Your spiritual pressure really is unique." He said and the arrancar shrugged. He'd been expecting that.

"Sure." He was willing to satisfy the scientist's curiosity if it would help Ichigo. He didn't think to question why he was so willing to help the teen.

He wanted to, and that was enough.


	5. Welcome to the Show

Author's note: The lyrics I used are from By Any Means Necessary, by Hammerfall. I'm no good at coming up with lyrics myself and I think it's perfect for an arrancar.

Masoki Kimura glanced up from his paperwork as his secretary knocked on the door, then entered his office.

He ran a talent agency and a small time recording studio, based out of Tokyo. He hadn't found the holy grail of recruitment, a real star, yet. But he'd found many modest successes, and found plenty of aspiring young models to guide in the right direction. So his business made a tidy little profit, although nothing that would let them move out of their rather pokey little office space in the industrial section of town.

"Reyo and his band are here to see you, sir." She said and he quirked an eyebrow at her. There was something odd about her tone. Miyaki had been with him a very long time, but he couldn't place it.

"Ah, Reyo." Masoki sighed to himself, not bothering to hide it from his secretary. Reyo was the bane of his existence. He liked the boy, he really did, and his talents as a lyricist were not in doubt. But his band had the most abysmal luck when it came to finding lead singers. Theoretically, it shouldn't have been that difficult. But so far one of them had committed suicide, another had simply died – he wasn't sure how – and the third, who had regrettably lasted a long time, had been three hundred pounds and covered in acne. Reyo simply didn't understand that his lead singer had to be, well, marketable. They were the face of the band. "Dare I ask what his new lead singer looks like?" He asked and was surprised as Miyaki took a step towards his desk then leaned in to speak quietly.

"Boss, he's a nine point five out of ten." She said and he blinked, almost stunned. Miyaki was still a beautiful woman, despite being in her forties, and she had a very stringent rating system. To get anything over a nine a man had to be an angel come down to earth. To get a ten required being Zeus himself. "If I were single and he asked me to go to the bathroom, I'd be following him right now." She said fervently and his jaw dropped open a little.

"I must see this." He went to the door and used the keyhole to surreptitiously take a look. Not very dignified, but no one would open the door without knocking so he at least wasn't risking a black eye. And he managed to get a good look at the man who had inspired Miyaki to lust. "Dear god." He muttered as he saw well-muscled legs in skinny jeans, a chest and arms that could have belonged to a pro wrestler and hair that was a shocking, powder puff blue. It looked amazingly natural and right on this man. And his face… his face was simply gorgeous. And if Reyo had picked him, Masoki knew he could sing. Reyo always picked his singers for their artistic abilities, never even thinking about their looks.

Summoning up his best professional smile, Masoki opened the door. He directed his attention to Reyo first, despite the temptation to stare at the incredible man. Reyo was the one he always greeted first, normally, and while Reyo had all the business sense of a weevil, Yoshi was the exact opposite. He handled the bands' finances and Masoki wasn't going to let him know how interested he really was.

"Reyo, it's a pleasure to see you." He said smoothly as the other man stood, smiling. They shook hands for a moment. "I appreciated that last song you sent me. You received your payment on time?" He asked and Reyo nodded, his smile widening to a snaggle-toothed grin.

"Yes Kimura-sama, it was much appreciated! Ah, we managed to replace Takedo!" He said brightly, gesturing to the blue haired man, who came to his feet in an easy move. Masoki offered him a hand, half-afraid the man would crush it, but he had good control of his strength and the handshake was firm without being painful.

"Hey there. Hope you're not into that sama stuff, I had a shitload of it from my last boss. I decided I wasn't going to do it again." He said with a feral grin that made Masoki's heart skip a beat. Not out of lust, but out of avarice. This man was _marketable._

"Oh, that's no problem, I don't insist on it. Kimura-san is fine." Most people called him that, in fact. The man's grin widened into something a bit less feral and more humorous.

"Then we'll get along just fine. I'm Grimmjow Jaegerjaques." He said and Masoki blinked at the very odd name. It sounded European. "But you can call me Grimm. Or Jaegerjaques, if you want to get all formal about it."

"I'm pleased to meet you, Jaegerjaques-san." He said, meaning it with all his heart. Then Masoki turned back to Reyo. "I'm told you wanted to do another recording?" He said, letting a bit of skepticism show in his tone. They'd already done several recordings with Reyo and his band, but it had never really gone anywhere. The boy nodded.

"Yes Kimura-sama! You'll be impressed, I know you will!" He said brightly and Masoki smiled at the enthusiasm. "Grimmjow is very good! We've been keeping the club packed, and the boss even gave us a bigger cut of the cover!"

"Well, that's good." Masoki said mildly, hiding his internal glee. He knew the owner of the club that Reyo and his band usually played at, and knew that he wouldn't have done such a thing unless he was genuinely afraid they might go elsewhere. Which meant they were very successful indeed. "Well, right this way. I'm eager to see and hear what you can do." Reyo's band had always been very good, full of lunatics who loved music beyond reason and practiced every moment they could. They'd just been lacking that _something _that took a good band and made them stars.

Hopefully, they had found it.

* * *

"Miyoki, are we videotaping this?" Masoki muttered from the corner of his mouth. His secretary had followed him to the recording, although she usually didn't. Heavy metal was not normally her style of music.

"We're getting every bit of it, boss." She quietly assured him and he turned his attention back to the performance. Grimmjow's violin was screaming in harmony with the electrical guitar, a duet he would never have conceived of. But that was why Reyo was a musical genius.

Grimmjow's voice was divine. As smooth as an opera singer one moment, an animal growl the next, he filled the music with a passion that was nearly burning. Masoki didn't know that the words of the lyrics resonated with the fighting spirit of the arrancar, bringing out the very best of his music.

_I am not judgemental,  
A sinner nor a saint,  
'Cause either you're my best friend or you ain't._

As he sang those words Grimmjow subtly emphasized them by clasping Katsu on the shoulder. He did it without breaking the other mans' concentration, Masoki noticed. They'd practiced that bit of drama, and it was a good move.

_Come gather here around me,  
Feel my breath under your skin.  
I'm deadly only when I'm getting caught._

_I count down to zero, I'm a soldier without soul,  
No mercy – no mercy! No mercy on your soul!_

Grimmjow's feral grin was breathtaking as he sang those words, those piercing eyes burning into the camera like those of a predator on the prowl. Masoki couldn't wait to see the final recording. It was going to be amazing.

_Kill by any means necessary,  
Win by any means necessary,  
Live by any means necessary,  
Die by any means necessary!_

The snarl of an angry cat filled the air, and Grimmjow made his violin scream again even as he sang the next part of the song.

_I am born to kill, judge and condemn  
I am born to win, slay and maim 'em  
I am born to live, fight for glory  
I am born to die!_

Grimmjow's eyes seemed glazed now, with the intensity of his own emotion and the power of the music. The feeling he was putting into his voice, the rage and power was incredible. It was harsh but not the screaming Masoki detested, no, this was a harshness that called to primal instincts.

_Kill by any means necessary,  
Win by any means necessary,  
Live by any means necessary,  
Die by any means necessary!_

When the song finally came to an end, Masoki drew a breath, blinking. Grimmjow had stage presence and he had it in spades. No wonder they were keeping the club packed.

"Well, that was very good Reyo." He said mildly. The other man grinned, pleased at the praise. "We'll have to go over it, of course, but I doubt we'll need another session." Normally it would take several sessions to record a single, but Masoki honestly couldn't see how this could get any better. It had been nearly perfect.

"Good, I can't stay too long." Grimmjow said, putting his violin away and cleaning out his ear with a pinky finger. "I have a friend who needs help with something, and my job at the curry place isn't giving me much time off." That made Masoki wince internally. If everything went as he was hoping, Grimmjow would be doing a lot of travelling. But then, it would take time to reach that point.

"That should be fine, Jaegerjaques-san." He reassured the man with a smile. "I'll let you know when the single is ready to be released." The band began putting away their equipment and Masoki grinned widely as he left the room.

Finally, he'd found what he was looking for.

* * *

Grimmjow sipped his tea, waiting for the results of all the tests.

He and Ichigo were both there, not saying much and just waiting for Kisuke to finish up a final bit of work on his computer. Computers were something Grimmjow was finally becoming comfortable with. He'd never be any kind of computer whiz, but he at least knew how to open and use an e-mail program.

Ichigo had been pretty patient tutoring him, and Grimmjow glanced at the teen with a small smile. He was staring at the table pensively, oblivious to the blue haired arrancar admiring him. And he was admiring him. Ichigo was cute, but it wasn't really his body that attracted him, not when he looked so much like Nozomi. No, it was his fighting spirit that drew the former Espada in. Ichigo was not one to turn down a fight, and he'd spotted the teen fighting four gang members last week. Grimmjow had tried to help out, but by the time he got there they were all down. It had been kind of funny.

Grimmjow looked up as Urahara stepped into the room, holding some papers. He wasn't going to even pretend to understand them, but Ichigo took a look as he set them on the table. From the look on the teen's face he didn't get it either.

"Well, the results are quite interesting!" Kisuke said with a good cheer that sounded a bit forced, to Grimmjow's ears. "Let's start with you, Grimmjow-kun." He said and Grimmjow nodded, sipping his tea. "It's very interesting. When Aizen created the Visored and the arrancar, he was trying to create a hybrid of shinigami and hollow. The Visored were a limited success, and on the whole, the arrancar were as well. But because you started as a shinigami, you seem to have achieved a unique spiritual fusion. I believe this is what Aizen was trying for, but never managed to obtain."

"Heh." Grimmjow couldn't help but grin at that. "Yeah, I know. If I'd wanted to lick his boots and let him know what I could do, I would probably have been the Primera." He could have called on 'Nixie sooner and displayed his true power to Aizen. He'd chosen not to. "So?" He asked and Kisuke smiled.

"Well, theoretically, it would be possible to create more arrancar like you." He said lightly as Ichigo frowned and Grimmjow gave him a hard look. "However, since it would involve feeding a shinigami to a hollow and hoping they could become the dominant personality…"

"Yeah, I can just see you mentioning that to Yamamoto. That would go over so well. Next?" He said in a bored tone, taking another drink of his tea. Urahara smiled for a moment, but then it faded as he turned to the more serious business.

"I wish I had better news for you, Kurosaki-kun." He said quietly and Grimmjow tensed as Ichigo looked very let down, but not surprised. "I've isolated the problem, and it's very simple but also difficult to fix. You have all of your spiritual pressure. Unfortunately, there's also a rip, a small tear in your aura. It lets out that pressure as soon as you generate it." Grimmjow blinked at that and frowned. He supposed it made sense. If the pressure was bleeding off quickly, it would be constantly contributing to Karakura's high reishi environment. The effect would be almost unnoticeable.

"So is there any way to patch the hole?" Ichigo asked and Kisuke grimaced before taking a sip of his tea.

"Well, that's where things become tricky. This would actually be much easier if all of your spiritual pressure were lowered. But because it's not, any spiritual 'patch' I create would quite likely fail as soon as the pressure builds to anything like your old strength. But don't give up hope!" He said as Kurosaki looked grim. "I'm going to keep researching it and trying to create a patch strong enough to solve the problem. And hopefully, heal your aura. That would be the best ultimate solution, closing up the rip entirely."

"Uh… Kisuke." Grimmjow said slowly. He knew a little about aura rips from his time listening to Szayel. "If I've got this right, it's like he broke his mask." The two shinigami both turned to stare at him and he shrugged. "Like Nel, or what would happen to me if that knife broke. Right?"

"Uh… actually, yes, it's exactly the same effect." Kisuke said and Grimmjow nodded.

"Is this ever going to have a physical effect if you don't get it under control?" He asked and Kurosaki frowned as Urahara looked thoughtful. "I mean, when an arrancar's mask remnants are broken, we regress. Is his spiritual pressure always going to stay stable at normal human level? Or could this hurt him?" Grimmjow wasn't sure what would happen if Kurosaki's reiatsu bleeding started pulling him down below normal pressure, but he didn't think it would be good.

"Well, it appears to be stable for now. Kurosaki-kun has such a high spiritual pressure that even with the rip, he's showing no signs of spiritual wasting." Kisuke seemed to know what would happen if it got that low, and the term didn't sound good. Wasting? "However, in general that is a concern. I think I'll share your thoughts with Soul Society. Ichigo has done so much for them, this might spur them to help." He said and Grimmjow nodded. They'd been content to just let Kurosaki live a normal life, which was fair really. But if there was a possibility the kid could die of his wounds, well, that was different. Then Ichigo made a leap that surprised them both.

"If you can find a way to heal my aura, would it work on Nel? We owe her a lot for helping us, and she seemed to be just as kind as Nelliel." He gave Grimmjow a questioning look and he nodded.

"She never liked fighting much, as Nelliel. Or killing. Kind of like Starrk." He felt a bit regretful about the Primera. He'd died well, but it had been so… futile. Or something. "She wouldn't hurt anyone, and it would be a nice thing to do for her. Her brother's ain't that strong." They were only adequate, but they were smart enough that he wasn't really worried about their safety. Not that taking care of that zoo was his problem anyway. Grimmjow would take responsibility for a lot of things, but not Nel and her brothers.

"A wonderful idea!" They both blinked as Urahara suddenly got all enthusiastic. "Her spiritual pressure would be strong, but less than yours, Kurosaki-kun. I could test out some of my patches on her. If they worked on her, they would at least have a chance of working on you, although I would have to tailor them to her energy…" Ichigo was looking at the shopkeeper wide eyed as he began mumbling to himself. Grimmjow rolled his eyes, irresistibly reminded of Szayel when he had a good idea.

"Whatever, you'll have to find her first. Unless you want me to do that for you?" He asked sourly and wasn't the least bit surprised when Urahara gave him a brilliant smile. "I'll try to make time for it. I'm pretty busy." Fortunately, time passed differently in Hueco Mundo. A single day in the living world was a month there. "It's a big place, and I'm not dragging Nel back if she doesn't want to go, so no promises."

"Of course Grimmjow-kun!" Kisuke said and Grimmjow resigned himself to a long trip through the sands. Still, it would be no trouble to arrange a day off from the curry place, and if he picked a day the band wasn't meeting he'd be set. He was actually considering quitting his delivery job. The band was getting more gigs and the money was getting better.

"Well, I'd better get going, I have to get to work soon." He checked his cell phone and grunted. Nearly two o'clock, and the curry place opened at three. They wouldn't be sending out any delivery orders until three fifteen at the earliest, though. "Well, I have a bit of time. Would you like to go out for some coffee?" He asked Kurosaki, who hesitated a moment. "You can show me how apps work on my cell." He hadn't quite figured that out yet. The teen smiled, setting down his tea.

"Sure." He said, standing. Grimmjow smiled to himself as he followed Kurosaki out the door. He'd noticed that Ichigo got all suspicious if he tried to spend time with him just because, but if there was clearly something in it for the arrancar he immediately relaxed. Clearly they were lacking a bit of trust, but he'd take what he could get.

It wasn't like he'd earned Ichigo's trust, yet.

* * *

"Why are you here again?" Ichigo asked as Grimmjow examined something a pretty girl at the club had given him. "And what is that?"

"I have no idea, I was hoping you could tell me." He said honestly as held the thing up in the air. He was sitting on the floor of Ichigo's room, looking through some magazines. He could have done this in his own apartment, but it could get lonely there. And while he could have hung out with Reyo or the other band members, they could get sort of annoying. There were constant sounds, and he preferred a bit of silence sometimes. Ichigo looked at it for a long, hard moment then grimaced.

"Just… just throw it away." He said, sounding pained. Grimmjow shot him a curious look. "Grimmjow… it's a condom."

"A what now?" He asked, making the teen facepalm. It took a very pained explanation, and some unrolling of the offending object before the arrancar got the idea. "Ah, so that girl wanted me to take her home, hey? Bet she was disappointed in me." Grimmjow sniggered at the thought as Ichigo blushed. He tossed the deflated little balloon into the trash. "Not like I'd need those. This body can't get diseases or make someone pregnant." No shinigami wanted complications like that, so gigai were incapable of such things, unless they were specifically designed for it. "And I don't sleep around."

"Orihime mentioned that." Ichigo said quietly and Grimmjow glanced at him. The teen was looking pensive. "She said you brought her flowers and berries." There was a questioning tone to his voice and Grimmjow laughed.

"Just a thank you for the arm. She's not my type." There was a faint relaxation in the teen and Grimmjow grinned wickedly. "Now, your sister Karin, in five years she might be - AWK!" Grimmjow ended up facedown on the carpet, one arm twisted behind him. No, Kurosaki hadn't lost any of his moves. "Che. Lighten up, it was a joke!" He tried to wiggle and winced as the pressure on his arm increased to just short of bone breaking.

"Don't you ever go near my sisters." Kurosaki said in a threatening tone. Grimmjow had to admit that it was very, very intimidating. Then the teen released his arm, going back to his computer desk. Grimmjow scowled, rubbing his shoulder.

"What, I'm not good enough for your sisters?" He jibed, getting a 'are you kidding me' look from Ichigo. "Pfft! Well, I wasn't planning to wait five years anyway." Karin was way too young for him and while five years was the blink of an eye for a shinigami, he didn't even know if she'd suit him. She was dark, athletic and had a fighting spirit, though, so she was his type. Ichigo shook his head.

"You're going to end up in a duel with Toshiro if you keep that up." He said, to Grimmjow's surprise.

"Hitsugaya? He fancies your sister?" He asked and Kurosaki blushed a little before nodding. "Oh. Well, she's totally off limits then. Bros before hoes I think the expression – ow!" Grimmjow rubbed his head, glaring at the redhead. He'd chucked a bottle of hand cream at his head. "What?"

"That's a really rude expression. Do you even know what a hoe is?" Ichigo asked and Grimmjow nodded.

"A farming implement." He said and Kurosaki just stared at him for a moment before laughing so hard he nearly fell off his chair. "What?"

"That's hilarious!" He wheezed and Grimmjow scowled before checking the time. It was nearly time for practice with the band.

"Hmph! Well, you can tell me later. I need to get going." He tidied up the magazines, most of which belonged to Kurosaki, and put them away. The few he owned went with him. For some reason, Ichigo followed him downstairs. Maybe to make sure he didn't molest his sister.

"Later Grimmjow. And really, thanks for all the help." Or that. Grimmjow smiled as he stepped out the door, then they both flinched at a bellow from upstairs.

"ICHIGO! WHY IS THERE A CONDOM IN YOUR TRASH CAN?! MY SON WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING! YOUR FATHER IS – " Ichigo stepped outside and shut the door behind him, muffling the sound of his father's voice.

"Actually, can I come watch your band practice? I really would rather not deal with that." The teen said, sounding highly irritated. Grimmjow winced.

"Sorry about that. Yeah, sure, the other guys bring girlfriends all the time." Grimmjow had noticed that most of the girls got a bit bored after a while, though. "And if it's too boring Yoshi has a gym and stuff in the back." They mostly practiced at Yoshi's place, he had an actual house that he owned free and clear. An inheritance, or so Grimmjow had heard. Ichigo nodded. "Does your family check your trash very often?" He asked. That seemed a little intrusive. Kurosaki sighed.

"My dad caught sight of Rangiku coming out my window last week. He's been a bit, um, intense since then. Even though I explained she was a shinigami and there is absolutely nothing between us." The teen said, quite annoyed. Grimmjow couldn't help but grin.

"With the way Rangiku dresses in the Living world, I'm not surprised. I hope you've got a bike, it's a long walk." Fortunately, Ichigo did have a bike, and soon they were travelling through Karakura town. Grimmjow was careful not to do anything too crazy, like biking down hills at breakneck speeds. He still had his powers to avert any problems, but Ichigo didn't.

Hopefully, Kisuke would eventually change that.


	6. Nel's Aspirations

"Hey you!" Grimmjow whistled to himself as he kept peddling. "Hey! Blueberry! Over here!" His peddling faltered a moment as he glanced around with a frown. "Yeah, you!"

"What the hell?" Mildly irritated, he pulled off to the side of the road. Even when he'd been part of Luppi's fraccion no one had summoned him with 'blueberry'. Glancing around, he finally managed to spot a girl running after him. "Oh." Karin really didn't have much to fear. He tried to think up an insulting nickname for her that wouldn't get Hitsugaya and Ichigo down his throat, then gave up. "Hey girl. What do you need?"

"You." She said, rendering the arrancar momentarily speechless. 'Nixie's snickering in the background wasn't very nice either. "I need you to train me."

"What?" Grimmjow blinked at her. That had come completely out of left field. "Me? Why me? You could get trained by your dad, Ichigo, Hitsugaya…" Honestly, the possibilities seemed endless. Why would she want to get trained by the Espada who had almost killed her brother on multiple occasions? Karin scowled angrily.

"Dad is a complete jerk!" She snarled, really frustrated. "He says I don't need to know things like this. Ichi-nii is just as bad, he lives to protect us and he can't face the fact that we might need to do it ourselves! Toshiro won't do it and he won't tell me why." Grimmjow filed that into the 'interesting' folder in his mind. "And Kisuke won't train me because it would betray dad! This is madness! You better teach me or I'm going to Ryuken and see if I can turn Quincy." She threatened and Grimmjow burst out laughing.

"Okay, okay, calm down." Grimmjow grinned at the thought of the girl with a bow. Wouldn't that tie her dad's pants in a knot. "I bet I know why Toshiro won't teach you. Getting a dad's permission to wed his daughter, that's a big thing in Soul Society." From the look on Karin's face, she was less than impressed with that reasoning. "Fortunately for you, I don't give a flying fuck what anybody thinks. Your aura is immature, but that's okay. It's a good time to get started." If she learned a bit now, Karen would be in a better position to handle her power at puberty. "With a bit of training, maybe you won't be a fucking disaster at kido like your brother." Grimmjow hadn't actually seen Kurosaki trying kido, but he'd heard the rumors. Apparently the kid was a nightmare. "When are you done school?" He questioned. He'd finally given up on his delivery job so he had some time free.

"Around four. Could you meet me around four thirty at the dojo?" She asked and he nodded. Grimmjow knew Tatsuki's dojo, he went there to practice fairly often. The basic hollows here didn't do much to keep his skills up and he might need them someday.

"Sure. It'll be good to have a sparring partner." He said with a feral grin, but Karin wasn't the least bit intimidated, just smiling back at him before taking off. He watched her go, almost wishing she wasn't already taken. But he wasn't going to piss off Hitsugaya, and she was really too young for him. Shrugging to himself, Grimmjow got back on his bike. He might not be doing deliveries, but he still had errands to run and he was picking up a package for the band.

He wasn't sure how he felt about this package. To give the band credit, they'd all been pretty open about the nature of the thing. Grimmjow was picking up a 'party pack' that consisted of weed, ecstasy and a smattering of other drugs that the arrancar couldn't be bothered to keep track of. Grimmjow knew it was flagrantly illegal, but he didn't care that much. It was a package, he could incinerate it with a burst of 'Nixie's power if anyone got onto him. And as for the drugs themselves, they were mostly recreational. He planned to give them a try, although he thought they would affect him only weakly. That would be enough to have fun, though.

They held the party after their gig, and Grimmjow had a few problems at first. Mainly, the band had invited several of their groupies and they mostly seemed to be _his_ groupies. That was annoying as hell, because he hadn't been kidding when he'd told Inoue that he didn't sleep around. It wasn't that he didn't have desires – his palm got a fair amount of action – but he liked to at least be in some kind of relationship first. Grimmjow wasn't waiting for marriage, but he did like to know a girl's name for at least a few weeks.

His rejection helped the rest of the guys, though, and even Reyo had some companionship. Grimmjow just enjoyed the marijuana, exhaling a cloud of fragrant smoke as the girls giggled at one of Katsu's jokes. They were all pretty damn high now, except for the arrancar in their midst. He was only mildly buzzed. So he didn't have much of an excuse for what happened next.

"Hey, Grimm. You haven't said much about yourself." Taro said, flicking back a bit of his green hair. He'd dyed the edges purple a few days ago. Grimmjow thought it made him look like a grape, but no one was asking him. "You got a family or anything?"

"Nah. You guys want to know the truth?" Grimmjow grinned wickedly. They were all so high, they'd probably enjoy this. "I'm an evil spirit possessing this body, and I'm gonna eat all of your souls." There was a brief moment of silence, followed by riotous laughter.

"Oh my god, don't eat me! Don't eat meeee!" Taro pretended to cringe and everyone laughed again. "No, seriously, you got any family?" He was really curious and Grimmjow shrugged.

"Nah, I'm an orphan. I had a mom but she died." Teru's mother had died when he was ten, old enough to survive but young enough to have it rough. "No siblings, no idea who my dad was. I made it on my own from there."

"Rough man. I miss my dad sometimes." Yoshi said wistfully. Grimmjow knew he was an orphan too, and his dad has passed away only a few years ago. He'd lost his mother a long time ago. "Want to try some of these?" He passed Grimmjow some red pills that he eyed with suspicion. "They're really good."

"Sure, why not." If he'd actually been human, there would have been plenty of reasons why not, including potential death. But he wasn't and Grimmjow wasn't worried about human drugs, except perhaps the hardest ones. And this wasn't going to be pure cocaine or anything really lethal. He swallowed a few pills and passed the little container on. It didn't take long for them to kick in, and they made him feel really good, like he was on top of the world and everyone around him was his friend. The lights around him were brighter, too. But the effect faded almost as quickly as it came and Grimmjow sighed to himself. He was just wasting the things, really. But at least he could be social without any real consequences.

That almost made up for the fact that he couldn't really get drunk anymore.

* * *

Grimmjow stepped back into the sunless world of Hueco Mundo and paused to look up at the moon.

It felt like forever since he'd been here. Not just in Hueco Mundo, but out of Aizen's sunlit land. If he was going to be honest with himself, though, he liked the sunlight. Or rather, he liked a landscape that changed from night to day like the Living world or Soul Society.

But Hueco Mundo was a land of endless twilight, and Grimmjow resigned himself to it as he began to walk over the sands, straining his senses for any sniff of his quarry. He honestly wasn't sure he'd find any hint of Nel. Hueco Mundo was a big place, and the little child arrancar and her brothers could be anywhere. The only good thing was that he'd probably see them well before he sensed them. That game of endless tag they liked to play did raise up a lot of dust.

Grimmjow sensed a small group of adjuchas stalking him, and deliberately flared his hollow power in a warning. He could sense a moment of hesitation before the pack decided that he was too tough of a target and left his trail. That was a bit of a relief. He wouldn't have minded fighting them – he still loved a good fight – but he'd be tempted to feed, and he'd promised not to do that.

He glanced down at the watch Urahara had given him. It was a special thing, designed to track time in Living world terms, so he could know when he had to return. So far, he'd spent less than a half hour of real world time in Hueco Mundo. He had plenty to go.

Feeling bored, he began to sing to himself as he walked. He stayed alert, of course. Letting your guard down in Hueco was a good way to get killed. But he needed something to keep him company.

The endless days stretched on and on, and Grimmjow had to fight several times, mostly adjuchas who were too stupid to recognize the power they were facing. He also had to deal with a rather interesting offer to join a pack, which he declined as tactfully as possible. If he'd been planning to stay, he'd probably have said yes. Now that he knew about his past, he didn't like to be alone. It didn't feel natural anymore.

Then, when he was five hours of Living world time into his trip, Grimmjow sensed a familiar power.

"Harribel." He briefly considered what to do. She would have no fondness for Aizen, after he'd nearly sliced her in half. But that didn't mean the Tres Espada would have any fondness for him, either. If she knew he was a traitor – and she probably did, if the Tres Bestias had been remotely conscious – she might be pretty mad at him in fact. "Hmm." Emphasizing the shinigami part of his aura, he tried to make a run for it, as if he were a shinigami panicked by the presence of a very powerful arrancar. Harribel was a more merciful sort than most, maybe she would be fooled and let him go.

She _was_ fooled, but unfortunately that didn't help a bit. The Tres Bestias managed to surprise him, although they were just as surprised as he was.

"We have you now shini… gami…?" Grimmjow stopped and snarled as Cyan Sung-Sun blinked, her sleeve held over her mouth. "Oh my, this is quite unexpected."

"I'll say!" Apacci sniggered as Mila Rose smiled. "How'd you manage to feel just like a shinigami?" She asked and Grimmjow just shrugged. He wasn't going to give these three explanations.

"I have vast and mysterious powers. Are you girls going to let me go, or is this going to get ugly?" He asked, unsheathing Pantera and Phoenixi. He could sense Harribel coming up on him from behind. Surrounded, this was great.

"It's going to get ugly, dumbass." Apacci taunted and Grimmjow's eyes narrowed. "I bet the three of us working together could take you!"

"When hell freezes over. Burn the air, Phoenixi!" There were three screams as shinigami power flared and lines of fire flowed through the air. He wasn't trying to kill them but he was trying to hurt them, and all three of them reeled back. "Way of Binding 63: Winding Chains!" Distracted by the fires that were tormenting them, the Tres Bestias didn't react fast enough to evade the kido. Ensnaring them all in a single kido was difficult, but Teru had been pretty good at kido before he'd died. Grimmjow had the same skill and he managed it, pinning all the girls together, back to back to back. "Hope you girls like each other, you're gonna be close for a while." He grinned as the arrancar struggled to free themselves.

"You bastard! What the fuck are you, some bastardized shinigami? How'd you do that?" Apacci demanded and Grimmjow just shrugged.

"I told you, I have vast and mysterious powers – oh fuck." He muttered as he turned. Harribel had arrived and from the feeling he was getting, she was pissed. "Hello Harribel. Long time no see." He smiled to hide his sweaty palm moment. The truth was, he wasn't sure he could beat her. There was a damned good chance he could, he had the powers of an Espada and a taichou rolled into one, and he'd been practicing a lot. Still, this was going to be interesting.

"Grimmjow. What have you done to my fraccion?" She looked past him at the struggling girls and Grimmjow shrugged again.

"Taken them out of the battle. So are we going to fight, Harribel? Because I didn't come here to pick a fight." If Harribel was willing to let him go, Grimmjow would be more than happy to leave. But green eyes narrowed dangerously.

"My girls told me you were a traitor, but I could hardly believe it. How could you turn on us, Grimmjow? How could you make a deal with the shinigami?" She asked and Grimmjow hesitated a moment. She was the best of the Espada, the only one he'd respected, and she deserved a genuine answer.

"I was never one of you, Harribel. The instant Aizen shattered my mask, I regained the memories of my primary personality. And he was a fukutaichou by the name of Teru Narobu." Grimmjow said quietly. "You remember that taichou you fought, before Aizen slashed you? That guy was Teru's best friend. And the taichou with the wolf head, Saijin, that was his taichou. I'm sorry Harribel, but I didn't turn on you… I was never one of you. My loyalty was always with them." He wondered if she could understand that, and if she would care if she did. Apparently not. Her eyes narrowed and she reached up to her shoulder, flipping out that great sword of hers. Grimmjow readied Pantera and Phoenixi, bracing himself for her attack.

Harribel did not disappoint. She charged her sword with a cero and Grimmjow responded by charging Pantera's tip with a matching one. The traded blasts back and forth and Grimmjow could tell the Tres Espada was slightly surprised that he was matching her so easily. Then their blades clashed and Grimmjow had to fight hard to keep her away. Harribel had always been a masterful swordsman.

But he had more tricks up his sleeve than that, and he snapped out a quick kido. His weapons sparked with electricity, shocking the other arrancar. She just glared, leaping back and casting a few quick cero blasts in his direction. Instead of countering them with his cero, Grimmjow replied with 'Nixie's power. Fire blazed through the air, and Grimmjow grinned wickedly as the cero's and the flames impacted. The sparks formed a cover for three smaller flames, which shot at Harribel with unerring accuracy. Her eyes went wide and she had to use Tiburon to deflect them. Grimmjow took advantage of the moment, firing several more kidos while she was distracted. Most she managed to block, but one scored a direct hit.

"Enough. Destroy, Tiburon." Harribel was clearly done playing and golden spiritual pressure erupted around her. Grimmjow rested Phoenixi against Pantera and called up his power.

"Grind, Pantera." Blue spiritual pressure erupted from him, but it glowed with flickers of red. He could tell that Harribel was noting the abnormality. Grimmjow grinned, sharp teeth flashing as he took his resurrection. "Burn the world, Phoenixi! Bankai!" Fire erupted from him, taking the form of the bird again. But this time he condensed it into a different form. The fire collapsed around him, gilding his body with pure force. Instead of wild blue hair, his mane became living fire, crackling and swirling behind him.

Then things got nasty. Harribel was a damned good fighter and Tiburon was a dangerous weapon. Her water blasts were so fast and forceful that he didn't dare use 'Nixie to counter them, instead he dodged with a bastardized combination of sonido and flash step. His return attacks were mostly Nixie's fire, but he did shoot off his little claws at her too. She dodged those, knowing better than to block.

"Harribel! Be careful!" Someone screamed and Grimmjow spared a glance for the ground. The Tres Bestias had nearly gotten nailed. It reminded him forcefully of how he'd nearly hit Inoue and Nel, not something he was proud of since it had been a pure accident. Scowling, he tried to lead Harribel away. She seemed to understand where his mind was going and was willing to cooperate.

Finally he decided he had to go all out. He unleashed Desgarrion, but the claws were not simply blue reishi. They were gilded with fire, flowing down the blue and increasing the power in them. Grimmjow couldn't be sure by how much – he was no scientist! – but it was substantial. Harribel summoned her ultimate attack, a pillar of water. His claws sliced through it, but the water was flexible and reached him. Grimmjow closed his eyes as it hit him, focusing the fire around him into a protective ball. He felt it as his claws hit Tiburon and tried to concentrate on drilling them in. He was straining himself to the very limits of his abilities.

When the water and fire finally cleared, Grimmjow knew he'd won this round. Harribel was panting heavily, her hair slightly scorched from the fire of his claws. He was feeling more than a bit battered too, but he was pretty sure that if he kept pushing he could kill her. But…

"Enough Harribel. What are we fighting over? Betrayal of a dream that was never real in the first place? Aizen didn't give a shit about any of us. What would he have done, when he became King of the three worlds? Given us places in his guard? Or quietly gotten rid of us?" Grimmjow paused, hoping his words were reaching her. "Can't we just let it go?" There was a pause as she thought about it and she finally nodded her head, letting her released form dissipate. Grimmjow silently breathed a sigh of relief and let Pantera and Phoenixi go, the flames vanishing and his hollow power returning to its sword.

"I'm only agreeing because I saw how you tried to move us away from my fraccion." She said and Grimmjow felt a little surprised. He knew she cared for her girls, but he wouldn't have expected a small gesture to influence her decision. "What are you doing here, anyway?" She asked and Grimmjow laughed.

"Looking for Nel. Want me to release the women?" He glanced down at the Tres Bestias. Apacci was threatening to rip off Mila's head, while Cyan was chiding them both for being immature. "Or maybe you should drop a water bomb on 'em, cool them off a bit."

"If you could." She said and Grimmjow released the kido. Maintaining it was starting to strain him anyway, and he wasn't too worried about all four of them ganging up on him now that his guard was down. That wasn't Harribel's style. "What do you want Nelliel for?" She asked, her tone reserved, and Grimmjow was reminded of how these four had gotten together. Female hollows had a rough time and tended to bond together.

"Personally, nothing. But Kurosaki needs her and I owe him a debt for being such a dumbass." Grimmjow admitted and Harribel just looked at him questioningly. "It's a long and stupid story, but basically he reminded me of someone I hated as a shinigami. All that shit about wanting to kill him wasn't just clever acting." He shrugged, slightly ashamed of it. Although he was getting a lot better. Hanging around Ichigo seemed to be helping his instincts recognize that he was a different person, although Grimmjow didn't plan to spar with him even when he got his powers back. That would just be tempting fate.

"Hm. Nel has been asking for him." Harribel said. That made Grimmjow's spirits lift. They knew where she was! "I can take you to her if you promise she will come to no harm."

"I promise." Grimmjow said instantly. Kisuke was planning to make a patch to restore her spiritual power. If it failed, it would just 'pop out' and release the pressure. He couldn't see how she could possibly be harmed. Harribel nodded.

"Very well. Follow me, girls." She said to her fraccion before walking away. All three of them kept a wary distance from Grimmjow, who was walking just a bit behind Harribel. He glanced down at his watch. He still had plenty of time.

"What is that thing you're wearing?" Mila asked, pointing at the watch. Grimmjow wasn't surprised. Time was a meaningless concept in Hueco Mundo.

"It keeps track of time in the real world. I have a job and shit, I can't stay here forever." He explained then gave a crooked grin as she looked at him in disbelief. "I'm the lead singer in a band."

"Okay, that's bizarre. You can sing?" She asked and Grimmjow laughed before giving a small demonstration. "You can sing. Why didn't you ever do that in Los Noches?"

"And ruin my reputation as a complete nutcase? Nah." He said easily. Mila Rose fell silent then, but he noticed a very thoughtful look on her face. And Cyan and Apacci where whispering something to each other. Harribel's fraccion seemed to be developing ideas, but he had no idea what they could be.

It took a while to reach Nel, since she wasn't at Harribel's den. Instead she was having a game of eternal tag. Finally they ran her down, though, largely due to the dust cloud. Her two brothers and the little arrancar immediately cringed at the sight of him, not an unreasonable reaction.

"Gwimmjow-sama!" Nel immediately knelt in the sand, putting her head down. For some reason, that irritated him almost unbearably.

"Oi! Don't sama me." He picked up the little girl arrancar by her broken mask and she looked at him wide eyed, her little feet dangling. "How would you like to go see Itsygo again, kid?" He asked and she squeaked, grabbing his wrist.

"Ya mean it? Ya mean it?! I can see Itsygo?" Then she paused as her poor, addled brain did it's best to think. "…Are ya gonna hurt Itsygo again? Yer a bad arrancar!" She said, big tears beginning to fill her eyes. "Ya hurt him so BAD! I'm not gonna – umph!" Nel made a very surprised sound as Grimmjow huffed a laugh, then cuddled her into his arms properly. He knew how to hold a baby, he'd done it more than a few times in his life.

"I'm not going to hurt him, Nel. I'm trying to help him." He assured her but she looked at him suspiciously. He ran a finger over the broken edge of her mask. "I could already have killed him, if I wanted to. He's broken his mask, Nel." That made the child arrancar's eyes go wide. "He needs your help to try and fix it. How would you like to be Nelliel again?"

"Oh no, we don't want that, don't cha know!" Grimmjow looked up in surprise as Nel's two fraccion started waving frantically. "Then Nel would have to fight again, don't cha know!"

"Why?" Grimmjow asked. "Aizen's gone. She'd only have to fight to protect you two, and I bet she'd like that, right Nel?" The little girl in his arms nodded vigorously.

"I wanna be Nel again so I can have swex wit Itsygo!" She said happily and Grimmjow was forcibly reminded that she was NOT a baby. Grimacing a little, he patted her on the helmet. He was pretty sure Ichigo's interest in Nelliel was pretty much zero, despite the amazing boobs.

"You're making me have second thoughts, kid." He muttered, thinking about it. He didn't want to give Ichigo a stalker. But Nel could reason a lot better as Nelliel, so it might not be that bad. But then Nel said something unexpected.

"Do you like Itsygo Gwimmy?" She asked innocently, making the other arrancar choke. There was a lot of feminine laughter behind him as his face went red. "Gwimmy likes Itsygo! OK! I'll go but I wanna have a tweesome!"

"You are fucking horrible kid." Grimmjow shook his head, looking at her fraccion. "You guys can come too but the pet has to stay here, he wouldn't make it in the Living World." They all understood that. There was a bit more minor finangling and a bit of hand wringing from Nel's fraccion, but they finally got underway. He opened the garganta and took them all to Urahara's place.

He only hoped the shopkeeper was ready to host this particular zoo.


End file.
